Disney Fairies: Tyrannicus
by Tabuu Forte Akugun
Summary: Life for Qana the snowflake fairy changes when a young human man ends up in Pixie Hollow and falls for her, then a giant reptilian monster follows him and takes the hollow by storm. One-sided OCxQana and OCxOC. Lightly inspired by TriStar's Godzilla.
1. Prologue

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Author's note  
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Hello, there! This is **Telemachus Claudius Rhade**. Since many people who are first reading this will probably not know me, welcome and enjoy the reading! There's pop and beer in the cooler, so help yourselves! LOL

And if you came here through my LiveJournal or from any other site I'm registered on, then hiyas! =)

If any of you have already read my profile, you're probably thinking "Geez, he's _finally_ posting something? It's about time!" I can understand that. Well, the answer is fairly simple: "yep".

While I've got quite a few fanfic ideas in my head that I'm toying with at the moment, possibly too many to work on all of them at the same time, this is my main fanfic project. Basically, this is what I signed up to post. As you can see, this is a Disney Fairies fic, specifically based on _Tinker Bell_. For those who don't like spoilers, I'd advise you to think twice before continuing, because I've included my favorite _Lost Treasure_ characters and content as well.

There are few canon fairies you might not recognize from the _Tinker Bell_ movie. That's because they either first appeared in the Nintendo DS game, or were first given a name there. These characters are Qana, aka the girl in my avatar (appeared in the movie but was named in the game), as well as a few others who only appeared in the game. I do not own any of the characters who appeared in the film (nameless or not), the game or both. However, any _original_ characters who appear in here _are_ mine.

This fic, as I said before, came to me after watching the TriStar remake of _Godzilla_ a few too many times, except with Disney Fairies pasted on top of it and its own completely original accompanying story. I didn't want to make a Disney Fairies clone of _Godzilla_. In other words, sticking Godzilla aka Gojira himself in there, or replacing the movie's characters with fairies. I've thought about it, sure, but I figured no one would want to read it if I did that.

At the same time, I share a lot of fanon ideas I've had about Qana and her personality, elaborated from and based on what little info the game revealed about her. In other words, I've tried to develop her character. I hate it when awesome characters are underdeveloped. Waluigi also comes to mind, but this fic doesn't deal with him at all.

As a closing note, I'm not going to do like 75% of fanfiction writers I see here and go "OMGplzRead&Review!". No, that's not my style. I'm here to give you fanfiction, not to pressure you. If you don't want to do so, that's fine.

With no further ado, let the prologue begin.

*Cue background music, _All'improvviso Amore_ (Josh Groban)*

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Prologue  
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Pixie Hollow, the home of the Never fairies on the magical island of Never Land, was always a very busy but peaceful place. Fairies zipped all over the place, doing all sorts of tasks to prepare for the new season, helping the four season ministers: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Painting fairies gave the ladybugs the colors and dots we all know them for, animal fairies made sure that the animals were carefully awakened from hibernation for spring, tinker fairies created and repaired various contraptions that aided in the preparations, just to name a few. Preparations were a lot of hard work and took months to create, so it wasn't unusual to prepare a season while another was being delivered. This is what was happening during the events of this story.

When they weren't preparing for a season, the fairies helped all sorts of creatures around Pixie Hollow, played with their friends and rested and relaxed from their hard work on a season. Indeed, the life of a Never fairy was no walk in the park. However, a fairy's life did have exciting moments. Fairies had their own equivalents to our holidays and celebrations. They loved parties, music and tea, and they jumped at any occasion to have any of them or perhaps all three. But one of the most anticipated moments in Pixie Hollow is when a sparrowman named Rune, the kingdom's best story-teller fairy, stood before a large crowd of fairies and sparrowmen and told them a new story. He was known for _always_ being able to entertain a crowd and keep them interested. His talent involved telling new stories he created, heard or even an older tale he recited to newer fairies or even fairies who heard it the first time and wanted to hear it again.

In the chapters that will follow this prologue is a story Rune had been told by a sparrowman who had participated in it. He was reciting the tale to a crowd of young fairies and a group of friends who had been there to see it, six years after it took place.

***

It was the night of October 31st, day of the Masquerade Ball, the fairies' equivalent of Halloween. Fairies were dressed in many colorful outfits of orange and black. The fairies had assembled around the pixie dust well, which was nestled atop the pixie dust tree, a great old magical tree at the center of Pixie Hollow. The crowd of fairies was quite large, almost larger than usual, and still, countless fairies of many talents raced to the scene, hoping to find a spot close to the "stage".

This eager crowd was mainly made up of young fairies who had recently arrived since the events of the story that would be recited today. Terence, a dust-keeper sparrowman, sat near the front, having played a part in it. About eighty five percent of the fairies present were either brand new arrivals or fairies who had been in Pixie Hollow for two years or less. Many random conversations were going on while the fairies waited for Rune, such as the following:

"Can you believe how pretty Rosetta is?", a garden fairy said to her friend sitting next to her. "I don't know how she does it!"

"Neither do I.", her friend said, nodding in approval. "I only wish I was that pretty!"

"Me too.", the first garden fairy added. "What's her secret?"

Further away:

"Silvermist is so cute!", a water sparrowman almost sighed to his twin. "If only I could gather the courage to court her."

"Sil's _beautiful_! But, she's totally not your type!", the twin almost giggled. "It's almost aggravating how calm she is all the time. She never gets angry and smiles too much. That's not normal for a girl."

And further still:

"I wonder what tonight's story is about!", a young light fairy told an older fairy who wore a sunflower dress. "Do you know, Iridessa?"

"No, sunbeam, I don't", replied Iridessa, "But knowing our host, it'll be absolutely flitterific!"

And not far from the front of the crowd, a tinker fairy proudly announced that she was building a new machine with Bobble, a handsome tinker with dewdrop goggles. The other tinker fairies let out long, dreamy sighs. They thought that Bobble was so interesting and funny. Plus, he knew so much about tinkering. Listening to him was fun, especially when he's working on that invention that turns out to be a silly idea. It was just fun. Bobble was popular among the tinkers, unlike his friend, the burly, loud and somewhat oafish Clank. Clank was nice, but he did things most tinkers would never do: what they thought was the worst was that he wore fluff in his ears when hammering. Because of this, he often screamed when he spoke.

However, one was not able to hear what the fairies were saying; there were simply too many speaking at once. After five minutes of chatter, the crowd fell silent when Rune, a fresh-faced and brown-haired sparrowman of average height, arrived and landed before them, wearing a big grin on his face. He was excited about the size of his audience and eager to get started. The large mass of fairies was perhaps as eager as he was, if not more. They stared at him in awe, even if he had not started telling the story yet. The ruler of Pixie Hollow, a tall and radiant fairy with beautiful wings named Queen Clarion, hushed a few fairies who were still whispering and giggling, then sat quietly in her spot at the front of the crowd, motioning for Rune to begin. He spent a few more minutes admiring his audience, and he finally cleared his throat and spoke:

"Welcome all", he said "I hope you've enjoyed the Masquerade Ball! It was a fun one this year, wasn't it?"

In the crowd, there were many nods and "un-huh's" of approval.

"Now, this is a true story. It happened right here in Pixie Hollow six years ago, and if you look around it carefully, you might even find proof that wasn't erased yet.", Rune began. "One of the sparrowmen who played a role in this story shared it with me, and many of you here today are new, so you don't know what happened. I'm delighted to have the honor of being the one who'll fill in the blanks. Lyria was supposed to be here to tell it alongside me, but she's got a nasty cold and has to rest."

Lyria was another storyteller fairy, who was apparently just as talented as Rune was. He cleared his throat again, took a deep breath and looked directly at the fairies before him.

"The day on which this tale began was no different from a day in our usual daily lives", he spoke enthusiastically, "except that the days that followed it were nothing short of extraordinary. This is the story of a relationship gone wrong between a snowflake fairy and a human, and the chaos that ensued. I hope you're all comfortable, because it's going to be a bit of a long ride."

With that, Rune unrolled a leaf paper and began to sing a poem Lyria had written.

_"Far across the water  
__Where man could not see  
__He rose above us all  
__With his mighty strength  
__And mightier heart still  
__He searched far and wide  
__For one special snowflake  
__A love, oh so true,  
__'Tyrannicus' was his name."_

Rune repeated this refrain a second time, except slower and in a more omnious tone. A fruit fairy found herself trembling. With that, each and every fairy closed his or her eyes, ready to picture the story as Rune told it. Another of his notable skills was giving his listeners the ability to live his stories in their minds.

P.S.: In the chapters that will follow, Rune himself will not be speaking the narrative lines. They will be written much like those in this prologue, but he is still indirectly narrating the story.


	2. Of Two Seasons And New Arrivals

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Chapter I - Of Two Seasons And New Arrivals  
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This tale began on a beautiful summer on the mainland. It was a summer to be proud of: beautiful flowers, grass and leaves, and warm, clear waters for the humans to swim in. Humans were the giant people who lived on the mainland. They looked sort of like five- to six-foot fairies with no wings. That summer neared its end. There were only mere weeks of it left, and the weather was already starting to slowly get cooler. It wasn't all fun and games all over the world, though. The seasons were made possible thanks to the hard work of the nature-talent fairies in Pixie Hollow, which was always unseen by humans, which is why the seasons just seemed to change out of the blue.

While the humans enjoyed what many of them considered their favorite season, here in Pixie Hollow, fairies of every talent were very busy preparing for that year's autumn. A group of painting and leaf fairies were doing some last-minute practicing on painting the leaves in what they loved to call "the perfect shade of amber", which was the normal orangey color humans see on their leaves in autumn. The animal fairies were going to the mainland to help animals start hibernation. In a month the season would be delivered. There was still much work to be done. A tall sparrowman wearing a robe made of orange, brown and red leaves flew in and began inspecting the fairies' work. He was known only by the name "Minister of Autumn".

"Don't mind me, I'm just making sure all is in order.", he said warmly. "I'm not worried, your work is always so spectacular!"

"Autumn's my favorite season, I can't wait until it actually starts, how about you, Minister?", asked an animal fairy.

"The wait is unbearable, indeed!", said the Minister of Autumn. He was touched by the animal fairy's comment, and he couldn't help but agree.

He smiled as he watched painting fairies put bucket after bucket of berry paint on the ground, carefully laid out in neat rows. The fairies laid out their preparations neatly because they would be inspected by Queen Clarion's review. Every season was periodically inspected to make sure that it was the best it could be. Fairies worked quite hard to please their queen. Suddenly, the fairies noticed a glow approaching, and they turned their heads to see tiny forms of pixie dust flying their way. They aligned themselves as neatly as they did their preparations while the small orbs of pixie dust approached along with four other important-looking fairies.

Those fairies were the Minister of Autumn's colleagues, the other season ministers. The Ministers were the most important fairies in Pixie Hollow, right after the queen herself. One was the Minister of Summer, a plump and cheerful fairy with curly chestnut hair and a dress made from colorful summer blossoms. She was followed by a sparrowman with long brown hair and dressed in a robe made from blue and white flowers named the Minister of Spring. Finally, the Minister of Winter followed. She was an elegant-looking white-haired fairy dressed in a white dress made from frost. Each of them smiled contently as they inspected the scene.

"Aren't all of those preparations just spectacular?", the Minister of Summer said joyously, clapping her hands together.

"Indeed, they are.", the Minister of Winter replied humbly.

"You should be proud to work with them, Autumn!", the Minister of Spring added.

The Minister of Autumn nodded. "Oh, indeed I am. Every year; I'm never disappointed."

The other fairy was Fairy Mary, the big and strict head of the tinker fairies. She carried an abacus with her, used to count the preparations. She was often seen with Queen Clarion; it was said that the two fairies were best friends since before the queen's rise to power. At last, the tiny forms of pixie dust combined and began outlining Queen Clarion's body. As soon as her entire body became visible, an obvious look of admiration appeared on her face as she stared at both the fairies and the work that they had done.

"Music fairies!", called the Minister of Autumn. "Please, play!"

A group of four fairies and two sparrowmen began playing a melody.

"By the Second Star!", Queen Clarion said and smiled. "Minister, their work is absolutely mesmerizing!"

The Minister of Autumn chuckled. "They are incredible, aren't they? I was just as awestruck as you are."

Fairy Mary quickly counted on her abacus.

"At this rate", she told the queen, "they might even finish early! Tinker Bell's amazing inventions are quite versatile, aren't they?"

"Indeed.", the Minister of Spring nodded, remembering how Tinker Bell had saved spring after she had helped in its destruction.

"Autumn fairies!", Queen Clarion announced. "I'm simply awed by the hard work and dedication you've put in for this season. I know a few more weeks sounds discouraging, but when they are done, this Autumn will be the most spectacular yet!"

All of the fairies present bowed to their queen. Queen Clarion was a lot more like a mother than a queen, someone any fairy could talk to. This made the fairies so comfortable. Just as she was preparing to leave, Queen Clarion turned her head. Her expression turned very serious. She sensed that something was approaching Pixie Hollow.

"A laugh is coming.", she stated.

The fairies quickly abandoned their work and followed Queen Clarion to the pixie dust well. This was where the laugh would land. A laugh meant that a new fairy was going to arrive. Thanks to her power, Queen Clarion could hear laughs in the mainland. Fairies were actually born there in the form of a baby's first laugh. Indeed, without exception, each baby who laughed for the first time always gave life to a fairy. Queen Clarion even knew who the baby was: young Charlotte Deschênes from Québec in Canada, which was quite far from London. She had laughed such a jolly laugh that it created a highly energetic arrival, who was due to come at any moment. The laugh ran into a leaf in a maple tree, which were plentiful where Charlotte lived, and it snapped off the tree and flew with the laugh as the wind slowly carried it to Never Land, toward the night sky... and the Second Star to the right.

Finally, when it arrived, Vidia, a fast-flying fairy, began to circle the leaf and she blew it toward the well with her winds. At last, she carefully steered and directed the maple leaf toward the center of the well, where the fairies were sitting and watching, and it landed. Vidia then returned to sit with the rest of her talent guild. A fresh-faced, blond sparrowman wearing an acorn top hat and leaf pants and vest named Terence arrived, carrying a ladle that was filled with pixie dust. Arriving next to the maple leaf, Terence sprinkled the dust on it as the other fairies watched. After the dust settled, a sparrowman appeared, seated and dressed in a maple leaf arrival garment. He was short, slim and had light skin and spiked brown hair. Queen Clarion flew to him to welcome him.

"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer. Happiness has brought you here!" Queen Clarion stated. She said this to every arrival. "Welcome to Pixie Hollow! I trust you found your way all right?"

"Yeah, I did.", the sparrowman replied. "Thanks."

Queen Clarion giggled, then flew behind him. She unfolded his wings, which then began to glow. Curious about these strange transparent objects behind his back, he soon found out that he was able to control them. Wings? He could fly! He took off into the air, excited, then returned to the ground.

"I can fly!", the new sparrowman laughed. "This is incredible!"

Queen Clarion tried to suppress laughter as she waved, which made a few toadstools appear around the sparrowman. He looked at them, with a confused look on his face. Queen Clarion looked upon the other fairies then nodded. One representative from every talent guild flew over with objects symbolizing their talent. Soon, many objects surrounded him, hovering above the toadstools.

"Thank you all for these offerings!", the new arrival said. "I love this welcoming committee!"

Queen Clarion laughed heartily.

"Why are you laughing?", the sparrowman asked, perplexed.

Queen Clarion regained her composure. "Child... those objects aren't gifts. They will help you find your talent."

"Talent?", asked the sparrowman.

"Yes.", Queen Clarion replied. "Each fairy has a talent, which is a task they specialize in, and fairies of the same talent work together. You'll know which one is yours when you approach it."

The queen looked on as the new arrival stared in awe at all these objects. They ranged from a flower to an egg to a leaf. There was even a heavy-looking hammer. Intrigued by the hammer, he reached for it. It dropped onto its stand. The tinker fairies dropped their heads in disappointment.

The next thing that intrigued him was a leaf. Maybe, he thought, he was a leaf sparrowman, due to his run-in with the maple tree. Alas, it faded as well. One of the leaf fairies sighed quietly to hide her disappointment.

He circled around, looking for something that would look interesting. A yellow tornado caught his eye. He was going to reach for it when his gaze met that of Vidia. He remembered that she was the one who directed him to the well. He didn't like the look she was giving him, which was an uninterested frown. And yet, he could tell that she was different. Misunderstood. If he was in her guild, perhaps he could figure her out later. He smiled at Vidia, which made her look at him in surprise. He reached for the tornado and poof. It completely dissolved. Vidia scoffed quietly. At least he wasn't going to be competition for her, which she hated.

He looked around again. He was beginning to run out of talents that seemed interesting. He saw a snowflake and looked at the fairies who had set it. They looked nice, he thought. However, he didn't really like their color scheme. He thought the colors of their clothes and hair seemed too light. He wasn't crazy about bright blue and white. He still reached for the snowflake, but it melted in his hand. Just the fact that he didn't like the colors meant that he didn't belong with that guild.

Looking around one final time, he didn't notice anything else that set him alight. Then, his eyes met with a bow and arrow. There was just something about it that made his heart start pounding. He looked at the fairies seated near it. One of them nodded, urging him to try. The new arrival reached to grab it, and to his surprise, it lit up and flew in his hands, then it glowed brightly. Every fairy cheered. The new arrival had found his talent! After a few minutes, they fell silent, and Queen Clarion spoke again.

"Come forward, scout fairies!", she announced, "and welcome the newest member of your talent guild: Wolf."

After this, she disappeared in a stream of pixie dust, while all fairies who were not scouts flew back to their homes. The scouts took young Wolf with them to show him around. In the case of the autumn fairies, they returned to their preparations. However, the autumn fairies were not the only ones who were currently laboring. Usually, while a season was being prepared, the fairies who lived in the other season realms got to rest from their work on the season that was being replaced. This year, another season was being prepared at the same time as autumn: winter, the season that followed autumn.

It was rare that two seasons were prepared at the same time, but not completely uncommon. More often than not, only one season was being prepared at a time. That year, however, would be one of those years that would be different. The Minister of Winter desired an exceptionally snowy winter, even moreso than many previous winters the fairies had delivered. A large amount of snow demanded many preparations.

Preparing for winter was the job of many especially talented groups of fairies, including the snowflake, icicle and frost guilds. These fairies, as you may guess, were responsible for all the snowflakes, hail and "wonders" of winter that the humans often complained about that continually rained down. The harsh winds were made by the fast-flying fairies. The snowflake fairies had the biggest load placed on their shoulders when winter came along, and that year was no exception.

The key player in this story is one of those fairies. She was the best and most gifted member of the snowflake guild, and was often charged with teaching new members. She was able to create more snowflakes in a shorter period of time than the others. With her sweet, friendly face and medium-length white hair, this fairy also stood out in a crowd. Her name was Qana. Considering her age, she was kind of the equivalent of the middle child in a family. It can't be predicted accurately because fairies don't tell their age. She was right in between Cooler, the oldest member and head of the snowflakes, and the youngest member, a cheery fairy named Hail, whom she had also taught. Hail idolized Qana and saw her as a mother figure, which deeply touched Qana.

Qana worked all day, hardly speaking. Had she not been so focused, she would have heard the faint call of another snowflake fairy who was flying toward her, calling her name. The voice grew louder, but Qana did not hear a thing. Finally, the fairy landed before her.

"Hey, Qana!", the fairy teased. "You don't answer me when I call your name anymore?"

Qana looked up to where the voice came from. It was her best friend Chill, who also took part in this tale's events. She was biting her lower lip, trying hard not to burst out laughing at what she had just said. Almost everything made her laugh. Chill was almost two years older than Qana, and not only had she been her teacher, but she had also been her first friend. Qana thought Chill was very pretty with her round nose and face, white eyes and glossy lips that were always curved into a smile, and it was the case. Chill never believed anyone who made the compliment, though. She secretly envied Qana because she thought she looked better.

"Sorry, I was so distracted. I didn't hear you.", Qana sighed, putting her head back down as she spoke.

Chill smiled and shook her head. "Same old Qana. Uses her work as an excuse not to talk, huh?"

Chill sat next to Qana and resumed work on her own pile of snowflakes. She looked at Qana as she did so. Her friend was _very_ shy, the complete opposite of herself. Chill was much more open than most fairies in her guild. Snowflake fairies were typically secretive around fairies of other talents, and due to this, most fairies in the guild were almost scared of Chill and her social skills. Winter was always referred to as a very mysterious season, and the fairies who made it happen were no different.

Qana, however, had always been exceptionally uncomfortable in social situations. It had been difficult for her to open up to others in her own guild when she first arrived. During the time in which Chill taught Qana all she knew about making snowflakes and preparing for winter, Chill had taken a motherly approach to make Qana feel comfortable, which worked, and their relationship only got stronger as time went by. By the time Qana was a fully trained snowflake fairy, the two fairies had formed a near unbreakable bond. Qana had few friends, but they were all loyal and true, as they had endured waiting for her to feel comfortable.

The day had been hard on Qana. She had spent the day making hundreds of snowflakes, pausing only to eat or drink and one last time to welcome Wolf when he arrived. Even so, the amount of snowflakes she had made could only supply one snowy day. Winter lasted about three or four months. The fairies had only started and had months more of work to do. This is the reason the Minister of Winter had wanted to start early. Qana had worked so hard that she did not even notice time go by. But she certainly felt her energy disappear.

Qana yawned. She looked at the sky, which was getting quite dark, finished the snowflake she was working on then stopped working. She knew she couldn't continue for much longer. She knew preparing for winter was a lot of work, but seldom did she ever have to work as hard as she did that year. Qana enjoyed her talent very much, but also secretly felt that that winter did not have to have more snow. As she stood up, the Minister of Winter appeared, along with Cooler and another snowflake fairy. They landed before Qana.

"Qana, your work is splendid.", said the Minister of Winter. "But you cannot continue in your current condition. Go and get some rest; Laska and Cooler will take over."

"I've never seen anyone make snowflakes like you!", Cooler exclaimed. "They're just popping out like hot cakes! I don't know how you do it!"

"You've got to tell him your secret, he's just dying to know!", Laska shook her head out of utter disbelief.

Grateful, Qana smiled back and flew away. She also blushed with pride: it took two fairies to replace her. Prideful Cooler had had a tough time accepting that Qana had surpassed him, but he eventually came around. Laska, who was a good friend of Qana and Chill, loved to create new snowflake patterns in her free time. Cooler and Laska were best friends and false rumors were even circulating that they were secretly more than that since they were often seen together, even when not preparing for winter. Qana liked to tease them and joke about it and watch them get flustered. It was fun.

After flying for a few minutes, she landed in front of her house. She had crafted it herself. It was built from ice and snow and located inside Winter Woods. Only Qana, Chill, the Minister of Winter, Queen Clarion and the scouts knew where to look to find it. A giant snowflake sculpture decorated the doorway and even the windows were made of thin sheets of ice. It was kept warm and cozy by a small fireplace made by Fairy Mary, the head of the tinker fairies. It was able to burn without melting down the house. Even snowflake fairies couldn't stand the cold weather for very long. They could only touch snow without it melting in their hands. She walked inside and spotted her bed. She smiled, realizing that her eyelids were quite heavy. Too tired to fly, she walked toward it and just let herself fall onto it. After sliding the cover over her body, her eyelids closed immediately and she fell sound asleep.

The next morning, Qana woke up to find the sky covered in large gray clouds. She sighed softly as she realized what would eventually happen because of them.

"It looks like it's going to rain today.", Qana thought to herself.

The snow that fell in Winter Woods provided the snowflake fairies with plenty of snow grains. Without it, the ground would slowly be depleted of its snow and the fairies could no longer make snowflakes. A snow grain was much like a grain of sand that they could touch and combine with many others to craft the large snowflakes that the humans see during their winters. It snowed constantly in Winter Woods, and weather from other realms didn't affect that in the slightest. Today, it was going to rain everywhere else. Fairies didn't like rain very much. It could make their jobs a little difficult, and it had a tendency to ruin their hair. It was also especially dangerous because their wings absorbed water, and when they were wet, it was impossible to fly. Fairy wings also took a long time to dry.

So, Qana reached for an umbrella, which was made from a twig and a leaf, all tied together with spider thread and proceeded outside. She was going for her daily scoop of pixie dust, as she and all other fairies did every day. Without pixie dust, fairies could not fly freely like they needed to. They could only do so for minutes at a time, which could make travel tedious. Before she could take to the air, a hand placed itself on her shoulder and she jumped. She turned and saw Chill behind her.

"Why do you always do that?", Qana laughed, relieved.

"I like seeing you jump, it's priceless.", Chill confessed. "So, what do you say we go get our pixie dust together?"

Qana smiled. "Love to."

"Awful day ahead.", Chill stated as she raised her umbrella.

Qana nodded, then the two friends took off together, side by side, with their fairy umbrellas, looking forward to returning to work and not knowing their day would not go as planned.


	3. The Visitor

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Author's note  
---

I do apologize for the delay, guys, but the reason I didn't post this chapter last week was because I was working on something else that I think you'll like: a website I made for this fic. To see it, go to my profile and click on the Homepage link.

Thanks to **Chrislma** and **Kageshi Hotaru** for giving me this idea. (This is explained more on the site.)

And now, on with Chapter 2!

TCR

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Chapter II - The Visitor  
---

The moment that Qana and Chill left Winter Woods, the rain started to come down on them. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as Qana thought it would be. The rain that was falling over most of Pixie Hollow was a soft, gentle rain. Just soft enough to be an annoyance. Fairies slowly formed a large line in the pixie dust well, waiting for Terence to sprinkle a cup of pixie dust over their heads. All of the fairies present were using the same umbrella-like water-repellent contraption Qana and Chill were using. A burly and bearded sparrowman appeared and tapped Terence on the back. Terence was so startled that he dropped his cup of pixie dust into the well. The big sparrowman chuckled heartily.

"Heh heh! Oh, come on, Terence!", he began, "See what trouble a dust-keeper can be when he's so easily scared. You can't go throwing dust around, now!"

Terence caught his breath. "You scared the pixie dust off me, Fairy Gary! Literally!"

"Well, put it back on! Flap those wings!", Fairy Gary replied. "We don't want to keep those fairies waiting! Remember, they can't fly without pixie dust! When all of those fairies have gotten their dust, come back to the mill to keep packing the mainland rations! We can't afford to be short on dust, so I want you all down there!"

Terence nodded as Fairy Gary waved to him and flew down into the pixie dust tree, where the other dust-keepers were located. Fairy Gary was the boss of the dust-keepers, a hard worker and a perfectionist, but he was a lot more light-hearted on the job than Fairy Mary of the tinkers. He also treated his fellow dust-keepers with the utmost respect. Terence liked working for Fairy Gary, as did most other dust-keepers.

As Terence was getting ready to distribute the pixie dust, somewhere near the shore of Never Land, two sparrowmen, who have had their doses early, flew around patrolling the area, keeping a close watch on the ocean and the sky. They were two scout sparrowmen. They always had to be alert, as sometimes, ferocious animals such as hawks would prey on fairies. One was a tall, well-built and dark-tanned sparrowman named Baden, the best man in the guild. He was serious about his duties and came across as a strict worry wart, but often his concerns were justified. He abided by fairy rules and regulations religiously. Still, that didn't stop him from being a kind sparrowman and a loyal friend.

The other was Wolf, whom Baden was currently teaching. Baden and the other scouts had discovered that Wolf was not like most other scout fairies. When he heard about humans, he was immediately fascinated by them and didn't understand why he had to avoid them. Wolf was quite rebellious and easily distracted, but at the same time he was kind and compassionate to all forms of life whenever he could be, and knew how to be serious when a threat was present.

"Wolf, if ever a hawk comes from the sky, you have to fly up at a safe distance from him and yell 'hawk' so everyone can hear you and take cover!", Baden explained. "You got that?"

"Got ya loud and clear!", Wolf confirmed.

"Good.", Baden continued. "Now, life as a scout may seem a bit boring, since we often have to stay in the same place, but trust me; there's no talent that makes you feel more proud than that of a scout, to protect all fairies."

"You're right, there is pride to be felt.", Wolf replied. "Especially since I noticed there aren't that many of us!"

"Oh, don't worry about that!", Baden chuckled. "That's because some sleep while we work. We're scouts by day, and when _we_ sleep, that's when the night watchers get to work."

"Is there anything else we have to watch out for?", Wolf asked.

"Yes", Baden replied. "Snakes, wasps, tigers... basically any creature that you feel won't listen to the animal fairies. If it's huge, has fangs and claws or acts strange, signal another scout."

Wolf nodded, then turned to resume watching. He was determined to impress his teacher. He looked to the beach, shaking his head at the weather but enjoying the light breeze. However, when he saw what lay in the water before him, he was quick to jump, too.

"Hey, Baden!", Wolf screamed "You'd better check it out! Some huge creature just washed onto the shore!"

Baden's scout instincts led him to follow Wolf to one of the shores of Never Land. When he saw what had washed ashore, his eyes widened and he practically trembled. On the shore lay a tall man with no wings on his back. He had short brown hair and a trimmed beard, and wore clothing that was not made from fairy materials.

"Unbelievable!", Baden exclaimed, "it's a human!"

Wolf's excitement mounted. His wish had come true. However, he couldn't help but feel disappointed at the same time.

"_That _is a human?", Wolf asked. "Apart from the obvious lack of wings and huge size, they don't look that much different from us! What's so dangerous about guys like him?"

Wolf imagined humans as powerful deities; great, imposing beings that had control over fairies' lives like he had been told. What was so exciting about a giant fairy without wings, magic or pointed ears?

"They're not that different.", Baden explained. "We need his kind to keep us alive by believing in us. Unfortunately, they're not very nice creatures. They can be even bigger menaces than hawks. All they need to do to kill one of us is pronounce six words, which I won't say. Many of them his age actually do it. We've lost tons of fairies that way."

"Never mind that!", Wolf cried without thinking. "We've gotta help him! Come on!"

Woilf began to fly toward the young man, but Baden then grabbed his shoulder out of panic. He knew what humans were feared for.

"Wolf, get away from him!", Baden gasped. "He'll kill you! And besides, Queen Clarion would never approve! We're not supposed to let them see us!"

"I seriously doubt that she'll approve of just leaving him to die, either!", Wolf turned and said to his comrade. "If he's that important to our survival, I'm going over there! I want to know everything about him and his kind!"

Baden sighed, then finally nodded.

"Fine, then! But we're taking him to Queen Clarion!", he ordered. "We'll let her decide what to do with him. It's the right thing to do. Boy, he's a tall one! We're gonna need pixie dust _and_ both of us to carry him."

Baden reached for a leaf sack, which was filled with pixie dust and sprinkled a generous portion on the human, who began to glow. He sighed again and shook his head.

"I can't believe I've been dragged into this!", he said under his breath. "I'm telling you, we're going to regret this."

The two sparrowmen grabbed parts of the human's clothing and carried him to the pixie dust tree. Inside her chamber, Queen Clarion knew something strange was happening, so she flew outside, looked upward and saw Baden and Wolf. However, when she figured out was what they were flying with, her mouth and eyes hung open in utter shock. She was _not_ happy. She quickly flew in front of the two sparrowmen and their "bounty", put her hands to her hips and had a positively upset look in her face and eyes. Baden and Wolf stopped flying when they saw their queen.

"Uh-oh...", Baden whispered, "_now_ we're going to get it."

"I believe you two have some explaining to do!", the queen said calmly. But Baden and Wolf knew that she was not kidding. "Where did you find him?"

"Your Highness!", Wolf explained, "I found him lying on the shore half-dead. I couldn't just leave him in the water!"

"What were you thinking bringing that boy here?", Queen Clarion scolded. "As scouts, you should know very well that he's going to expose us all the first chance he gets!"

"I don't think he's any threat to us in his condition!", Wolf replied.

Queen Clarion looked at the unconscious young man for a moment, then looked at the two scouts before her. She returned her gaze on Wolf.

"Very well, then.", Queen Clarion said rather grudgingly, "I will nurse the human. However, after that, his memory of Pixie Hollow disappears and he returns to his kind!"

"Say...", Baden thought out loud. "Why didn't _I_ think of that? That makes perfect sense!"

"I want to talk to him.", Wolf replied. "Humans fascinate me. I want to know everything!"

Queen Clarion led Baden and Wolf to the pixie dust well, where they laid his massive body. Surprisingly, the well didn't collapse under his weight. A few fairies who were already present for their dust, as well as Terence, gasped at what they saw. One of them prepared to flee in case the human were to reawaken. Fairy Gary, who had returned after hearing about the scouts' rescue, was there too. The fairy queen took another scoop of pixie dust and cast a spell on the human, shrinking him to a mere five inches tall, fairy size.

"This should make things much easier.", Queen Clarion stated.

"My, that _is_ one unusual find, isn't it?", Fairy Gary scanned the human. "But what would this lad be doing _here_? He's from the mainland, isn't he?"

"It sure looks that way.", Baden told him. "Wolf found him on the shore."

"The sea looks really nasty today!", Wolf cried. "The waves are enormous. It's a miracle he survived."

Queen Clarion looked at the unconscious human.

"I will make him some tea.", she stated. "It will wake him up, then we can find out how he was able to end up here."

Queen Clarion flew into her chamber to make some fairy herbal tea to wake up the human. Meanwhile, Qana and Chill were mere inches from the tree when Qana turned Chill's way and saw her fiddle with her hair.

"Oh, dear...", Chill groaned, "I'm going to have one bad hair day today."

Indeed, Chill had forgotten to tie her hair before leaving her house. Qana thought she looked even prettier than usual with her hair down. Had she not been wearing her usual clothes, she might not even have been able to recognize her. Qana had never noticed since this was the first time she had seen Chill without her hair up as she always had it when she was out.

"It should be okay after you tie it back up.", Qana said.

"You're probably right. I can hardly wait to get back home and fix this.", Chill sighed.

Qana could tell by the tone of her voice that she really didn't look forward to fixing up her hair. It was usually straight and smooth, but the rain and humidity was already starting to make it look frizzy, which in turn made it a lot harder to style. The two friends continued their way toward the pixie dust well. Inside the well, the human visitor at last woke up, put a hand to his head and groaned. His vision was quite blurred from being out cold for so long. As his eyes adjusted, he looked around at the glowing fairies who were staring at him.

"Am I dead?", he asked.

"No, you are in Pixie Hollow.", Queen Clarion said. "The scouts found you lying unconscious on the shore."

"Pixie Hollow?", the human asked in disbelief. "Kids talk about it all the time. So, that would make you...actual fairies, right?"

"Yep!", Wolf proudly announced. "Surprised, aren't you?"

"Yeah, quite a bit.", the human chuckled nervously.

"So.", Queen Clarion begun, "what is your name, stranger?"

"Nick.", the human said simply.

"Well, Nick!", Terence chuckled, "You certainly don't seem dangerous!"

"Dangerous?", Nick laughed and looked at Terence. "I'm not a monster. Your kind saved my life! I'd have be out of my mind to want to hurt you."

"So, what happened to you anyway?", Wolf asked.

"Well, it was the strangest thing.", Nick replied, almost seeming confused. "I remember being on a boat, enjoying some fresh air with a tour guide. I was visiting London from Canada because I heard how beautiful it was, and this guy insisted that I _had_ to see the ocean. So, he took me for a free ride on his ship. Unfortunately, he wasn't very skilled at showing people around, and it was the most boring trip I've ever been on. I got so bored I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I woke up here. I must've fallen overboard or something 'cause of this weather. I don't remember a thing."

"Must've been quite a shock!", Terence said, almost sounding shocked himself.

Nick nodded, then once again looked at the group of fairies before him.

"So, why is it that I don't see much of you?", he asked. "Don't you visit us humans?"

"Well, certainly!", Fairy Gary replied. "Fairies leave here to change the seasons. Me and my fellow dust-keepers provide them with the pixie dust they need to fly."

"It's just that whenever they do", Terence said, "they take extra care not to be seen."

Nick sighed softly and didn't speak for about a minute or two. Queen Clarion studied him. She thought that something about him felt strange. Unusual. At last, after reflecting on what Terence said, he spoke again.

"But, I don't understand: why do you care so much about hiding from us?", he began. "If you want us to believe in you, wouldn't it be better if we knew you existed? Seeing is believing, right? _That's_ probably why my fellow grown-ups stop believing in you!"

"He does have a good point, though.", Terence added.

"We... simply like to take precautions!", Queen Clarion managed to say.

She was honestly trying very hard to make good conversation with this young man who came from one of the species that killed so many fairies. Yet it was difficult. And this one puzzled her. Why wasn't he saying "there's no such thing as fairies" like all the others? Why was he so friendly and all smiles? For the first time in her life, Queen Clarion began to wonder if there were any other humans who were like this visitor.

Not all eyes were on their human visitor, though. Fairy Gary looked at the fairies in the well and gasped.

"Terence, we'll have to cut this short!", he said out while pointing at them. "There; despite our visitor here, the fairies are growing restless! Get back over there."

Terence looked at the constantly-growing line of fairies. Some were asking each other where Terence had gone.

"Oh, sorry, I completely forgot!", he said to Fairy Gary. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Nick!"

"Agreed!", Fairy Gary waved. "I think I'll watch him from here. For laughs. It's funny to watch him when I rush him. You should see him around young Tinker Bell! He gets hilariously clumsy at the mere mention of her name!"

Fairy Gary and Nick giggled together, while Terence flew toward the waiting fairies and waved to Nick, who returned the wave. Neither of them nor Nick knew that Queen Clarion planned to make Nick forget everything. After five other fairies, it was time for Chill and Qana to get their rations. Both snowflake fairies waved to him as he raised his ladle.

"Hey, ladies!", he said, "Sorry for the delay!"

"An awful day today, huh?", Chill asked. "It's sure taking its toll on my hair."

Terence laughed then sprinkled dust on Chill. She sighed with a smile. She loved the feeling of the dust settling on her. Terence then immediately proceeded to pour dust on top of Qana.

"Thanks, Terence!", Qana said shyly.

"You're welcome.", Terence winked at her, then directed his attention to the next fairy in line.

Chill and Qana prepared to take off when Chill spotted the human visitor.

"Hey, Terence?", Chill pointed to Nick, "Who's that guy?"

Terence looked where Chill was pointing. "Oh, him? That's Nick. He apparently washed ashore and Baden and Wolf saved him. You'd be surprised at how friendly this guy is. Nothing like the ones we hear about."

While Chill and Terence spoke, Qana looked at Nick herself. How could the queen, Fairy Gary and those two scouts be so calm around him, she wondered. He was a human. Weren't his people the ones they were always hiding from on the mainland?

"Is that a human?", Qana asked, whispering.

"Sure is.", Terence replied. "The queen shrunk him, that's why it's not that obvious."

"Why aren't we hiding from him?", Qana asked.

"Well, the queen would gladly hide _him_, but he's a little tough to hide.", Terence answered. "He sticks out like a sore thumb."

Nick overheard the conversation, wondering who Terence was talking to, which caused him to turn to him. He looked at the two fairies beside Terence and his eyes widened and even appeared to shake when they stopped on Qana.

"Hey, who's that _beautiful_ fairy over there?", Nick asked. "The one with the shoulder-less dress."

Baden turned to where Nick was staring.

"Her? Oh, that's Qana. She's a snowflake fairy and a pal of mine.", he answered, "A real nice and friendly gal. Only problem is she's so shy she can barely talk."

"That's exactly like me.", said Nick, sounding entranced.

"Well, if you are shy, it certainly doesn't show.", Wolf commented. "I see you have an eye for her!"

Nick and Wolf continued to look at Qana, who was talking to Terence and Chill.

"She _is_ pretty.", Wolf said, "I'll give him that."

"That's going to be a bit tough.", Baden explained. "Love isn't very common in Pixie Hollow."

Indeed, the only real known sign of romance was Terence's crush on Tinker Bell, which was pretty much common knowledge amongst friends. Fairies did not usually fall in love.

Nick ignored them both as he stared at Qana. Wolf shrugged and motioned for Nick to follow him.

"Okay, okay. Come on.", he smiled. "I'll introduce you. It can't hurt to try."

Meanwhile, anyone who listened carefully could have heard a quiet but genuinely worried "oh dear" from Queen Clarion. Nick falling for a fairy could truly interfere with her plans to ship him away.


	4. Tinkering With Feelings

---  
Chapter III - Tinkering With Feelings  
---

Nick followed Wolf to where Terence, Chill and Qana were standing, while Baden prepared to leave.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to return to the beach.", Baden waved to Nick. "Wolf, join me there when you're done."

Wolf nodded as Baden flew away. Truth be told, he was still thinking about what Queen Clarion had said before, and because of this, he wanted to get away from the human. Fairy Gary would not watch either. He prepared to fly away.

"I have to go too!", he said. "The other dust keepers and I still have to prepare the pixie dust rations for the mainland. Fly with you later, boy!"

He waved to Nick, who waved back. The dust-keeper boss then flew back into the pixie dust distribution center, his talent guild's workshop. After he was gone, Nick, Wolf and Baden continued to walk toward Terence. Chill looked their way and a smile formed on her face.

Chill waved. "Hey, Wolf! Not a real nice day for flying, huh?"

"You can say that again.", Wolf replied and waved back. "But let's not pay attention to that now. There's someone here who wants to meet you."

Chill's eyes met with those of Nick. She smiled as sweet a smile as she could to make him feel welcome. Unlike most fairies, she didn't care what he was.

"You must be Nick.", Chill said. "It's nice to meet you! I'm Chill, a snowflake fairy."

She held out her hand so Nick would shake it, and he did.

"Terence told me about your experience.", Chill continued, "I'm sorry to hear about it, it must've been scary!"

"I wouldn't know.", Nick replied, "I was asleep. I woke up right here."

"Really? I guess it's better that way, you didn't feel anything.", Chill continued, then put her arm on Qana's shoulder. "And this lovely girl here is my best friend, Qana. She's a snowflake too."

Looking to his left, he looked at Qana, who looked back, visibly nervous. Nick held out his hand to her. He was blushing so much that his face was almost visibly red.

Nick found himself struggling to talk to Qana, and his eyes locked onto the floor. "So, um... nice to meet you, too."

Qana's eyes widened. She smiled a very small smile, as if to discretely tell him she wasn't comfortable. She hesitated before slowly reaching for his hand, however she let it go almost right away. She was so nervous that her face was about the same shade of red Nick's was.

"Me too.", she spoke quietly and looked at Nick's feet.

Nick fought to keep his eyes into hers. "You all right?"

"Fly with you later, now.", Qana said almost in a whisper.

She took off into the air and headed back toward Winter Woods. Chill sighed and shrugged, then returned her gaze on Nick.

"Is she always so...", Nick searched for the right word, "quiet."

Chill chuckled. "Oh, forgive her, she's hopeless. She's just really nervous around strangers. Trust me, I've dealt with that too!"

Wolf put his left hand to his chin. "Well, maybe she just isn't in the mood to talk this morning, that's all."

"That can't be it.", Chill replied. "She wasn't upset at all on the way here. She's just shy. Don't worry, just give her some time."

"Might be the best thing to do.", Wolf said. "Well, see ya guys. I'd better join up with Baden. You know how he is."

Chill giggled. "Totally!"

Wolf waved to the human visitor and flew away. Nick and Chill both waved back before facing each other again.

"So, you're gonna need a place to stay, right?", Chill asked. "You can bunk with me!"

"I don't think your queen would approve..." Nick started.

"Poppycock!", Chill cut in, "You're sticking around until you're all fixed up, aren't ya? Why should the queen worry? If the scouts trust you, then it convinces me!"

Chill looked toward the direction Qana flew away in, then looked back at Nick.

"I'll go and get the place ready!", she nodded, then took off.

Nick turned to take a seat when Queen Clarion stepped before him. He looked in her direction.

"Problem, your Highness?", he asked.

"I'm afraid you must not get too attached with the fairies.", she said.

"Why not?", Nick asked. "They're just so friendly."

"It is time for me to explain.", Queen Clarion replied. "After you are healed, you will lose your memories of Pixie Hollow and be returned home. You _seem_ trustworthy, but I cannot afford to take that kind of risk."

Nick dropped onto the floor of the pixie dust well, fighting to hide a look of shock on his face.

"I'm very grateful for what you've done for me, your Highness. I understand how you feel about my kind.", he looked up to the queen, "But I can't go home. Not anymore."

Queen Clarion smiled "Ah yes. Your heart is filled with love for the snowflake fairy Qana, is that not correct?"

"Love at first sight.", Nick said then shook his head. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"Yes.", Queen Clarion said sweetly, "but it will never be. Fairies and humans cannot love each other."

"Why not?", Nick asked. "All a relationship needs to be successful is a man and a woman who love each other and have common interests, regardless of whether or not they happen to have wings on their backs!"

Nick sighed and lowered his head, feeling like tears would start flowing from his eyes, when a question popped into his head.

"Why can't I stay here?", he asked. "If I have no contact with my people, I can't expose you."

"That is preposterous.", Queen Clarion stated. "You know very well that I cannot allow a human to live in Pixie Hollow. You should consider yourself lucky you even got to talk to the fairies. That is a privilege very few of you get."

Nick watched as Queen Clarion disappeared in her familiar stream of pixie dust. He thought about Qana for a while. He still had some time to talk to her and eventually reveal his feelings to her, and he planned to take advantage of it. But he was worried about what Queen Clarion had said she would do with him. He had no desire to leave Pixie Hollow _or_ lose his memory of Qana. He sighed.

"It doesn't matter what happens.", he said to himself. "I'm gonna lose her."

He looked in the direction he saw Qana fly away in, and her abrupt departure replayed in his mind.

"Fly with you later, now!", he heard her say again.

"That had to mean something.", Nick thought out loud. "I think she wants to see me again..."

His thoughts were cut short when Chill arrived.

"Your room is ready!", she proudly announced.

Since he was so deep in thought, Nick jumped, startled, and turned to Chill. She giggled.

"What the...", he gasped quickly.

"You're just like Qana.", Chill said, "Everytime I catch her by surprise, she jumps. I think it's a riot!"

"I think I can understand that.", Nick replied, still trying to catch his breath.

"Come with me.", Chill finished. "I'll fly slowly. Don't dawdle, now! Come, I'll help you get down from here."

After Nick finished climbing down from the pixie dust tree with much trouble, he and Chill headed toward Winter Woods, where Chill escorted him inside her house, which is where his bed was located. A rose petal drape was closed around it for privacy purposes. Chill then pointed to to the drape.

"In there.", she declared. "That's where you'll be sleeping."

"It's a little cold in here.", Nick exhaled and a cloud of steam exited his mouth.

"Oh, no problem!", Chill smiled. "I've got a snowdrop suit in there, it'll warm you up in no time."

Nick entered the drape, looking around to locate the suit. When he did, he quickly donned it, then stepped back out, feeling much warmer than before. The snowdrop suit looked very similar to Cooler's clothes, except with the typical snowdrop colors.

"That's much better.", he said.

"Lookin' good, big guy!", Chill replied, inspecting him.

"Thanks!", Nick replied humbly.

"Who's looking good?", a familiar voice called out.

It was Qana, who had dropped by, carrying a cracked apparatus shaped like a tea kettle.

"Him!", Chill pointed to Nick. "Nick's bunking with me 'till he's all patched up."

Qana did not reply. Chill looked at her expectantly, when she noticed the kettle in her hand.

"Qana, this is ridiculous! Look at it.", Chill pointed to it. "You can't wait anymore, you've _got_ to take it to the tinkers. Tinker Bell made it to help the icicle fairies, remember?"

"But Chill...", Qana blushed.

Chill shook her head and feigned a smile. Qana hardly knew young Tinker Bell, the newest but most talented tinker fairy in Pixie Hollow. They had met and crossed paths a few times, but that was it.

"Qana, Tink isn't going to eat you, you know?", she joked. "She's here to help us, that's her job!"

"I know", Qana replied. "But still. Will one of you go with me? Please?"

"I'll do it!", Nick volunteered. This was a chance he would not miss.

Qana smiled. "Thanks, I guess."

Nick noticed that this time, Qana's smile was wider and sincere. It was a smile of heartfelt appreciation. He smiled himself. Inside, that is.

"Besides, I'm curious to meet this Tinker Bell.", Nick lied. He knew he would use the opportunity to spend time with Qana. "Fairy Gary _made_ me curious."

"Well, then, I guess I'll catch you guys later, huh?", Chill stated. "Bye, now."

Due to Nick's obvious lack of wings, Qana walked alongside him. The two scarcely spoke to each other the whole way, either of them being too scared to talk. The walk lasted for about an hour. Nick and Qana arrived at Tinkers' Nook, where she led him to the work bench of a fairy dressed in a green leaf dress. She had her blond hair tied in a bun.

"Um, Tink.", Qana said to the fairy, blushing. "Mind if I ask you to fix this for me?"

"Sure.", Tink reached for the item but stopped. "Qana? Long time no see!"

Tink then looked at the miniaturized human and smiled at him.

"And who might you be?", she asked. "You're a human, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I washed up here from London.", Nick replied.

"You're from the mainland?", Tink asked, sounding interested. "Your world is beautiful! When I visited it for the first time, I was amazed."

Bobble, a tinker sparrowman who wore dewdrop glasses and who was working on his own repairs, looked toward Tink from a work bench further away from Tink's with an curious look on his face. His large friend, Clank, was hacking the tops off of acorns while wearing balls of fluff in his ears. Bobble stood up and walked toward them. Seeing this, Clank did so himself, forgetting to remove the fluff from his ears, of course.

"Who's that, then!?", Clank shouted at Tink.

Tink turned toward the source of the shouting, not surprised to find out where it came from.

"Clank, would you stop screaming?", Tink asked. "I can hear you! His name is Nick."

"Tick!?", Clank asked rather loudly, sounding worried. "Make it go away, I hate them!! They make me itch!! Then I end up scratching 'till my skin gets all red!!"

"Not _Tick_, Clank!", Bobble struggled to keep calm. "_Nick!_"

"What do you mean you're sick!?", Clank asked. "So why'd you even get out of bed then?!"

Bobble groaned and looked like he wanted to strangle Clank. Nick laughed quietly while Tink did so nervously.

"You gotta work with this clown?", he whispered to Tink.

"Don't worry; I'm managing somehow.", Tink said to Nick. "He always has fluff in his ears, and then that noise happens. It drives us all crazy."

"Well!?", Clank asked, pointing to Nick. "Are you gonna tell me who this guy is or not!?"

Tink put her hand to her head and sighed. Qana put her hand to her mouth and giggled, while Nick shook his head.

Thorougly fed up, Bobble put his mouth near Clank's left ear, pulled the piece of fluff from it, and said, slowly: "That. Is. Nick. He's. From. The. Mainland!"

Clank smiled. "Oh... Hi, there!"

Nick waved to Clank instead of saying hello, worried he'd burst out laughing.

"Qana.", Tink called out, "This is pretty badly out of shape, so it'll take a few days. I know how busy the winter fairies are, so leave this with me and I'll bring it to you when it's done, ok?"

Qana smiled. "Yeah, thanks!"

"Bye now!", Tink called out as Nick and Qana waved to the tinkers.

Nick and Qana walked back toward Winter Woods, where it was already getting dark. The two acquaintances arrived in front of Chill's house, where they prepared to part.

"Whew, I haven't walked this much in a while!", Qana said quietly. "I'm spent!"

Nick noticed that Qana started to sound more comfortable around him, which in turn made him feel better, too.

"Me too.", he replied. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"We'll see.", Qana finished.

The snowflake fairy lifted off and flew toward her house. After watching Qana fly away, a lovesick sigh escaped his mouth and he entered Chill's house.

"Hi, Nick!", she was sitting at her tea table and greeted him with a wave and a smile as he walked in.

Chill invited him to sit in front of her, which she did. She handed him a cup of warm tea, which he accepted warmly. Then an idea came to him. Who better than Chill to confess his crush on Qana to? Perhaps, he thought, she could provide some advice. She was her best friend, after all. However, he was still a little nervous. What if she reacted negatively? He took a deep breath before finally speaking.

"Chill, I need to get something off my chest, and I know you'll listen. You mind?", he asked.

"I don't mind at all, Nick, what's up?", she asked.

"There's someone here", Nick answered, "A fairy who's got me on my knees."

"Oh?", Chill said, sounding interested. "Mind telling me who this crush of yours is? Your secret's safe with me."

Finally feeling a little less nervous, Nick relaxed a little and continued.

"I don't think it is.", he went on. "You know her. Probably too well to keep it secret."

Chill immediately figured it out. Nick definitely would not fool her.

"You like Qana?", Chill asked, almost sounding shocked.

"Yeah. A lot.", Nick confessed.

"That's shocking.", Chill giggled. "Not to mention borderline insane!"

"I guess I am going out of my mind.", Nick stated.

"You are.", Chill continued. "I'm just going to warn you in advance, getting Qana to love you back isn't going to be easy if at all possible. Love is scarce here. The closest thing we've got is Terence liking Tink."

Chill smiled sweetly.

"Any other fairy would tell you that you have no chance.", she told him, "but not me. If there's one way other fairies describe me, it's that I think differently. Who cares if you're human, I say. You like her; that's what counts, right?"

Nick nodded, then Chill patted him on the shoulder.

"Once you get to know Qana, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what she has to offer.", she explained. "She's the sweetest and nicest person in the world. Tell you what: I'll even help you. I promise you, no one will know a thing."

Nick yawned, putting a hand to his mouth.

"Go on and get some rest, now.", Chill said sweetly. "We'll talk again in the morning."

Nick stood up and walked toward the rose drape and crawled into bed. After she was certain he was asleep, Chill grabbed a feather and two pieces of leaf paper. She had a sneaky look on her face as she wrote two distinct letters: one addressed to Qana and the other to Nick.

"Qana can definitely benefit from this.", Chill whispered to herself. "That's why I'm doing it."

After she was done, she slipped the one for Nick next to his pillow, then quietly flew toward Qana's house, where she slipped the second letter under her door. She then giggled to herself as she flew home, satisfied, and jumped into bed.


	5. I Want To See You

---  
Author's note  
---

Well... I hope you can forgive me for making you wait for this chapter. Stuff like this doesn't happen very often (thank God) to people around me, but when it does, I like to take the time to absorb what happened and then let it out.

Now, all I can hope for is that you consider this chapter worth the wait.

On with it now.

---  
Chapter IV - I Want To See You  
---

The next morning, while all of the fairies in Pixie Hollow still slumbered, Chill woke up early, anxious to hear Nick's reaction to the little plan she had cooked up for both him and his crush. She tiptoed to his enclosed bed and put her ear against the drape.

"Please, let him fall for it.", Chill thought to herself.

She giggled silently and she listened. She heard Nick groan as he finally awakened. His eyes opened slowly and he sat up in his bed, completely unaware of Chill's plan.

"Oh, boy.", Nick said as he rubbed his eyes. "Is that bed ever comfortable or what?"

He got out of bed and carefully placed the sheet back to the way it had been last night before he went in, when he noticed the leaf paper next to his pillow.

"Hm. What's this?", he asked himself out loud as he picked it up.

It was the note Chill had written. She had written it in her own handwriting, since he couldn't tell who it came from anyway. It read as follows, with Nick reading out loud as his eyes scanned the words, which had been carefully written for easy readability:

"Nick,

Meet me on the beach in Summer Glade this afternoon. We need to talk, and maybe I won't feel so nervous if I'm alone with you.

Qana"

"Well, that's it. The opportunity I've been waiting for.", Nick thought out loud. "I'll finally be able to tell her how I feel; but at the same time, I'm scared that I'll chicken out and let her slip away."

Chill moved her lips to say a silent, but victorious, "yes". She flew back to her table and laid two blueberry cupcakes and two cups of tea before sitting down. She absolutely _had_ to stop herself from laughing, since that would blow her cover, so she bit her lip. When Nick came out, he sat down at his end of the table. He pulled out the leaf paper and showed it to Chill.

"It's the weirdest thing.", he said. "Qana must've slipped this on my bed last night. I didn't hear a sound."

"That _is_ strange.", Chill lied. "I didn't either. What did she write to you, if you don't mind my asking?"

"She wants me to meet her in this place called Summer Glade this afternoon.", answered Nick. "The trouble is, I have no idea where that is. I wish she had given me directions; in case you haven't noticed, I haven't been here for very long, so I don't know where anything is; I don't even think I could go back to Tink's workshop without Qana."

"Well, I promised to help you, didn't I?", Chill realized that she had just slipped. She quickly thought of a way to cover it up. "So I'll take you there this afternoon, then take off before she can see me."

Nick let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks.", he said simply.

Nick looked at the note and smiled.

"Take your mind off that letter for a while, won't you?", Chill ordered. "Eat up, now."

Nick smiled. "Okay, okay. If it makes you happy."

Chill giggled. Nick set his letter aside and looked at the table and inspected what lay before him.

He rubbed his stomach. "Mmmm. Blueberry. My favorite! How did you know?"

Chill giggled again.

"I didn't.", she answered. "Because I had these since before you came. The baking fairies had them left over from yesterday morning, and I enjoyed them so much that I grabbed two for the next few mornings. They had either that or raspberry, I enjoyed them both equally and I couldn't make up my mind."

"Well, they're both excellent flavors, but you definitely made the right choice.", Nick said before taking a bite of his cupcake.

Nick and Chill took their cups of tea toasted to Qana's health. Chill sipped her tea, then looked again toward her guest.

"Hey listen", she began, "I've got to go get my daily scoop of pixie dust. Will you be all right here by yourself for a few minutes?"

"Sure.", Nick replied. "But what's pixie dust?"

Chill laughed at her own clumsiness. "Oh, how silly of me. Pixie dust is what gives us fairies the ability to fly. Without pixie dust, our wings would just be like ornaments. Pretty, but completely useless."

Nick nodded. "Okay. Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks."

"When I come back", Chill said, "Would you like Qana to show you how to make a snowflake?"

"Yeah, sure!", replied the human. "I'm curious to know how they're made."

Chill smiled and left. When she was gone, Nick grabbed his letter and hummed to himself as he read through it again. He was convinced that Qana sent it and was very much looking forward to meeting her, unaware of who truly wrote it and for what purpose.

Outside, Chill flew to the pixie dust tree, not before stopping before Qana's house and looking at it, quietly giggling again.

"Won't she be surprised?", she thought to herself.

The cunning snowflake fairy continued her route to the pixie dust tree, humming to herself. While she left, back at Qana's house, Qana was just beginning to awaken. She slowly sat up, letting the sunlight that filled her house awaken her. She loved to do that. Slowly, she opened her eyes, lowering her head to shield them.

Qana smiled as her eyes opened completely. "Oh, what a beautiful day to make snowflakes!"

She rose out of bed and sat in front of her mirror, which was next to her bed. She grabbed her pine needle hairbrush and lifted it to her hair to smooth it out. Like most mornings, since Qana often tossed and turned in her sleep, a few hairs often poked out of her familiar hairdo.

After a total of maybe six or seven strokes, Qana looked in the mirror and nodded, appearing satisfied. "That'll do."

She set her hairbrush down, changed into her favorite bright blue dress and enjoyed a cup of tea. A cup of tea every morning was enough for Qana. Unlike many fairies, she prefered cold drinks. After she finished her cup, her stomach growled.

"I'm particularly hungry this morning.", Qana laughed. "Must've been that long walk from yesterday! I wonder what the bakers have for breakfast today."

She set her tea cup down and walked toward her door, preparing to leave for the pixie dust well to get her dust before going to eat. That, however, was when she accidently stepped on the leaf paper, causing a soft but still very noticeable crunching sound to be heard. Intrigued by the sound that the leaf made, Qana looked to her foot and noticed the letter that Chill had left for her the night before.

Qana bent down and picked up the letter, then unfolded it to read it.

"Now, what could this be?", Qana mused. "This is Chill's leaf paper. What in Never Land is that fairy up to now?"

Qana looked at the bottom of the sheet, smiling, expecting Chill's name to be written there. Her eyes widened in shock and her smile faded when she found out that the letter was not from Chill, but was signed "Nick".

"That's odd.", Qana thought out loud. "Why would _he_ send me a letter?"

Qana slowly examined the letter, mouthing the words to herself as she read them. To take suspicion away from herself, Chill had made sure not to write this specific letter in her own handwriting. It read as follows:

"Hi, Qana,

You mind if we have a little chat on the beach in Summer Glade this afternoon? I'd like to have a word with you, you know, get to know you? You're so mysterious, and I'm curious. Sorry if this letter sounds weird, but I had a tough time finding the right words. You make me pretty nervous.

Nick."

Qana frowned, put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment.

"Well, that letter _does_ sound weird, I'll give him that.", she thought out loud.

She folded the letter and put it in her dress.

"I should check it out anyway.", she finished.

She shrugged before finally exiting her house and taking off in direction of the pixie dust tree. When she left Winter Woods, the difference in temperature immediately got to her. She wiped her forehead.

"Ah, it's so warm here!", Qana whined to herself. "I don't know how the others do it, it's much better at night."

Qana preferred the cold of Winter Woods to the warm, comfortable sunshine in the rest of Pixie Hollow. She wasn't a huge fan of summer, even if she found it pretty and liked to dip her feet in Havendish Stream. She would still rather be frolicking in the cold.

She finally entered the tree and saw the well, where Terence was sprinkling dust over two fairies: a pretty garden fairy with red hair named Rosetta, popularly known as "Ro", who wore her favorite rose petal dress and the other was Fawn, and animal fairy and one of Rosetta's best friends, who wore her usual moss clothing.

Fawn turned to Rosetta. "Hey Ro, did you hear? There's a human in Pixie Hollow and he's shacked up with one of the snowflake fairies! Chill, I think her name is?"

Rosetta nodded. "Uh-huh, I know Chill. She hangs out with my pal Laska, who always wants beauty tips! But she's sheltering a guy from the mainland? Do tell!"

"I heard it from Sil, who heard it from the babbling brook.", Fawn continued.

Rosetta shook her head. "That Sil and her gossip. That love she has of hearing it will come back to haunt her someday, you know that?"

"Apparently, Cera heard the same thing. It's not just Sil.", Fawn replied. "The brook never lies, it's true, you can go and ask 'em yourself if you want. The water fairies are panicking!"

About a minute later, Qana arrived, recognizing Rosetta and Fawn and quickly landed behind them. Rosetta, who was quite surprised, turned to her.

"Qana? Good morning to you, sugar.", she greeted. "You guys are pretty busy so I hear, how're you holding out?"

"I'm great, thanks, Ro.", Qana replied. "I love my work, so I don't consider myself busy."

Rosetta shrugged and ran her left hand through her hair. "Maybe it's because I'm not in your guild, but just the idea of crafting snowflakes all day long makes my head hurt. All that detail work, it isn't good for my nails, either."

Qana was used to seeing Rosetta, so speaking to her was a bit easier than with fairies like Tink. Qana herself was not friends with her, but they've met pretty often. Rosetta came to Winter Woods once in a while in an extra-warm outfit she also wears while helping to deliver autumn to see Laska. As a result, Rosetta and Qana saw each other frequently.

"So, how's...", Rosetta started to say, when Fawn shushed her.

"Ro, it's also said that the human has a huge crush on her and that he's afraid to tell her. Let's not talk about him, ok?", Fawn whispered in her ear.

"Oh, secret love story. Can't betray that, now can I?", Rosetta whispered back.

"How's what?", Qana asked.

"Um... the Minister!", Rosetta lied. "Why did she ask you guys to make so much snow this year, anyway?"

"Oh, you're asking the wrong fairy.", Qana replied. "I enjoy making snowflakes, but between you and me, I think she went a little overboard if you ask me."

"No kidding. Well, fly with you later, sapling!", Rosetta saluted.

Rosetta and Fawn waved to Qana, who returned the gesture, and flew away. Terence walked up to Qana with his ladle and smiled.

"Hi there, Qana!", Terence told Qana. "Ready for your scoop?"

Qana nodded and stepped before Terence, who poured some pixie dust on top of her.

"Thank you.", Qana smiled.

"So", asked Terence, "Tell me, how's Nick doing? Chill was here not long ago, you just missed her, and told me that there was something on his mind."

"Well, I don't know.", Qana replied. "I haven't seen him since last night. But, he _did_ leave a letter under my door, asking me to meet him this afternoon."

Terence shrugged, refilling his ladle. "Well, whatever it is, maybe he wants to share it with you. You okay?"

Qana nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just a little stunned, that's all."

Qana and Terence waved to each other, then she wasted no time in taking off and returning to Winter Woods. She needed advice, and there was only one person she knew who could give it to her: Cooler. She flew to the house of the head of the snowflake fairies, which looked a little like the middle snowball on a human snowman's body. Two windows, one on top of the other, were aligned with the door, which was made from the hide of a deceased Sprinting Thistle, which was a large, living weed that had a tendency to rampage around Pixie Hollow when provoked. It was located next to the frozen stream which lined the middle of Winter Woods. Qana landed before the large house and knocked on the door. The white-haired sparrowman opened the door and smiled.

"Qana? How nice of you to drop by!", he greeted. "May I help you?"

"Yeah, can I talk to you about something?", Qana asked.

"Sure, what's on your mind?", replied the snowflake boss. "Come on in!"

Qana shook her head. "No, thanks. I'll only be a minute."

Cooler nodded.

"You see, someone sent me a letter asking me to meet him today.", Qana began.

"Does this person worry you?", asked Cooler, concerned.

"Well, no", Qana answered. "He _sounds_ like someone I can trust."

"So, then", asked Cooler, "What's the problem, Qana?"

"The thing is", she replied. "I just met him yesterday, plus he's human, so I'm not exactly comfortable."

"Human? I can see how a guy like that would intimidate you!", Cooler explained. "Let me put it this way: does he want to hurt you?"

Qana shook her head. "No, of course not."

"Well then.", Cooler replied. "You should go ahead and meet him. He'll be expecting you."

"You think so?", Qana asked.

Cooler nodded. "What've you got to lose?"

Qana thanked him and headed back to her own home when suddenly, Wolf circled overhead and zipped in front of Qana.

"Howdy there, snowflake fairy!", he saluted.

"Wolf? What're you doing here? You startled me!", Qana asked, surprised.

"Well there's a fine how-do-you-do!", he joked. "I'm just kidding, I was just patrolling the area when Chill called me down to tell you that our friend wants to see you make a snowflake. He's curious."

"Oh?", Qana asked. "Well, I can't refuse a friendly request. I'll just get some snow grains and I'll be on my way! Thanks for the message!"

Wolf waved. "Don't mention it, friend!" And then he took off.

Qana bent down and picked up a pile of snow grains from the ground, then carefully carried them to Chill's house. Qana knocked on the door and Chill opened.

"Hey!", Chill greeted.

"Hi.", Qana returned the greeting. "Wolf gave me your message. Is Nick here?"

Chill nodded. "Yeah, come on in!"

Qana walked inside and stood before Chill's table, with the young human man watching her attentively. She laid out her pile of snow grains on the table.

"Well?", Qana began. "I hear you want to see how a snowflake is made. You ready?"

"Yeah!", Nick answered enthusiastically.

"This won't take long.", Chill told him. "Qana is the best fairy in the guild. Watch her and be amazed. After all, I taught her everything she knows!"

Chill, Nick and Qana all giggled, then Qana got to work. Nick watched as her hands began to magically arrange the snow grains and patiently and skillfully turn them into a large snowflake.

"There.", she said. "Nothing to it! It might seem surprising to you now, but the very small particles of snow you see in winter actually look like this up close, super-fine sculptures that we all work hard to make."

"Wow.", Nick gasped. "That was amazing, Qana!"

"Thanks, it is.", Qana confessed, "But imagine; we have to make millions of these for winter, and a lot of humans don't appreciate them. Most of them hate winter, and I'm confused as to why, but I'm confident when I say that if they knew how much work went into the season, and how much fun making a snowflake is, they'd appreciate it more."

Nick whistled. "It would definitely give them something to think about."

Qana nodded and smiled sweetly. "It would, wouldn't it?"

She then turned to Chill. "I think we should go now. The other snowflake fairies need us, there's still lots of snow left to make."

Chill nodded. She looked forward to work every day. "Let's go, then."

Qana then turned to Nick.

"So, I'll see you this afternoon, then?", she asked him.

"Yeah.", Nick replied

Chill winked at Nick and smiled. But it was at Qana's salute, not at the duty ahead of her, that she smiled. Only she knew that it had sort of a double meaning. The two snowflake fairies left to resume their duty, taking the snowflake Qana had just created with them, while Nick stayed behind. He would wait for Chill to take him to Summer Glade for a strange encounter.


	6. Your Time's Up

---  
Author's note

Man, I hate writer's block! :( But it's as I thought, after watching more Lost Treasure, I finally got a few ideas.

Well, it's here! Enjoy! ;)

---  
Chapter V - Your Time's Up  
---

Hours later, as late afternoon rolled in and Qana was still immersed into her work, Chill stopped working, snuck away and went into her house. She walked toward Nick.

"It's time.", she told him. "Come with me, I'll take you to Summer Glade."

They left Chill's house, but before flying away, she turned to him again.

"Do you think you're able to run?", she asked. "We'll need to hurry. Qana will also start moving soon."

"I can jog.", he replied. "But don't ask me to run. I don't think I have the strength just yet."

Chill shrugged. "Fine, then. Now let's go, I'll get you there before Qana even leaves here."

While Chill eagerly took the anxious human, who looked forward to meeting with Qana, to Summer Glade where she was hoping her plan could get him together with her, Qana looked at the sky, stopped working and took off, flying toward Summer Glade, not knowing that Nick and Chill were already there waiting for her.

"I still have no idea why he'd want to see me.", Qana thought out loud as she flew. "And most importantly, why in private, and why _me_?"

Qana asked herself all of these questions and more as she arrived in Summer Glade. She hoped to ask them when they would speak. Since it was still early afternoon, the sun was still bright, seagulls were still flying overhead, but there was no one there but her. Curious, she landed and began looking around.

"Nick?", she called out. "Are you here?"

Nearby, Nick and Chill were hiding in the palm trees. Chill turned to Nick with an excited look on her face. She was eager for the "meeting" to begin.

"Go on, she's waiting for you.", she encouraged. "You can do this."

Nick was nervous, and thus was having second thoughts. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure!", she whispered back. "I mean hey, she's over there waiting for you, isn't she?"

Nick nodded, then stepped out of the shadows.

"Qana?", he called.

She turned around, surprised. "Oh, there you are. Um, hi."

"Hi.", he greeted solemnly, positively intimidated.

"How long have you been here?", Qana queried.

"Not long before you got here.", he answered. "Chill gave me directions."

Qana reached into her dress and pulled out the sheet of leaf paper that had been slipped under her door that morning.

"I got your letter. The one where you said you wanted to meet me here.", Qana began and raised the paper. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

Nick was shocked. He was unaware that Qana had recieved a letter of her own, and he had most certainly not written it.

"What letter? I-I didn't write you no letter.", Nick stuttered. "Let me see that."

Qana walked to him and handed him the note, with a confused look on her face. He read it, then gave it back to her.

He then shook his head. "No, it couldn't have been me. That's not my handwriting!"

Qana reread the letter.

"So, who wrote this and sent it to me?", Qana asked.

"Beats me!", Nick replied. "The reason _I'm_ here because of the letter _you_ sent _me_."

Now it was Qana's turn to be shocked. "Huh? In your own words, I didn't write to you!"

In the trees, hidden from sight, Chill listened and watched as her plan fell apart.

"Fiddlesticks...", she whispered.

Next she watched Nick hand his letter to Qana before returning to Winter Woods, disappointed.

"Here.", Nick stated as Qana took the sheet. "With your name on the bottom, and carefully written."

Qana took the letter and read its contents, then frowned.

"This is Chill's leaf paper, just like my letter.", she said. "There's no way I could've written this one."

Qana looked at the paper more in detail.

She then looked back at Nick, positively stunned. "Hey, wait a minute. This is Chill's handwriting. She's not stupid, she probably wrote the one I got differently on purpose. Bottom line, she set us up!"

Nick turned toward the spot Chill once hid in and glared at it.

"Chill, come on out here, will ya?", Nick called out.

"She's here?", Qana asked.

"She brought me here and hid there while we spoke.", he replied. "She must've taken off."

"But I don't understand...", Qana thought out loud. "Why in Never Land would she do this?"

Nick shrugged. Qana rose into the air then turned to him.

"Come on, I'll help you get back to Winter Woods.", she told him.

Nick walked as Qana flew overhead, and they both returned to Winter Woods. Upon arriving before Chill's house, much like the night before, they faced each other as they parted.

"Hey, um, sorry you got dragged into this.", Nick apologized.

"Don't apologize. I understand.", said Qana. "I'm going to have a good talk with her tomorrow morning."

Qana waved. Immediately, almost as a reflex, he returned the gesture and, for the second night in a row, watched her take off.

"Oh, Lord help me.", he whispered. "I'm in love. Don't fail me this time..."

He put his hand on Chill's door, still looking at Qana. By now she was barely visible, only the trail of pixie dust she left behind as she flew could be seen clearly. He opened the door and walked in. Chill walked to him to welcome him.

"Hey, sorry about setting you up like that.", she practically mumbled the words. "I honestly thought I could help."

"Don't worry about it.", Nick reassured her. "You were just trying to help and I appreciate it. Thanks."

Chill looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah.", he answered.

"Well, don't mention it.", Chill said, feeling a bit better. "I'm going to have to face Qana eventually, though."

"Yeah, she was pretty upset, I won't lie to you.", Nick replied.

"I feel bad that I lied to my best friend.", Chill added. "It was the only way I could think of to get you together. Come to think of it, I also took a big risk, too. Doing that could've gotten me in a whole heap of trouble."

"Why?", Nick asked.

"Well, I don't know if the queen told you this", Chill explained. "but we're not really supposed to be interacting with humans. It's really hard to explain. To this day, I still don't understand why the queen seems to hate your people so much. We've got a lot more in common than maybe even you and I both realize."

Chill reached for her tea kettle and showed it to Nick.

"Tea?", she asked.

"I'd love a cup, yeah. Please.", Nick replied before sitting.

"I, um, also wanted to apologize for taking off on you.", Chill added as she poured the tea. "I guess I just got a bit scared after my plan failed."

"I was wondering about that.", Nick replied. "It's ok, I guess."

After they finished their cups of tea, Nick bid Chill good night and went to bed, looking forward to a good night's sleep. Chill watched him and smiled, then stared at her reflection in the tea. She asked herself if Nick would like her had Qana not been there. Because she liked him. Dared she say that she loved him? She blushed around him and felt real happy. Is that what Terence felt around Tink? She dismissed that idea. It'll never happen, she thought. She continued to sip her tea, and fell asleep at her table without even realizing it.

The next morning, another very sunny day began in Pixie Hollow. Chill awoke, laughing quietly at where she had slept, and was about to leave her house to resume her preparations, when Qana suddenly appeared and landed before her.

"Chill, I need to talk to you", Qana said. "It's about those letters you sent to me and Nick."

"Yeah, about that.", Chill replied. "I'm sorry I lied to you."

"Why did you do it, anyway?", Qana added.

"He made me promise to keep it a secret...", Chill began.

A familiar sound echoed throughout Winter Woods, interrupting Chill. One that was perhaps a little too familiar. The ear-splitting sound of a reed kazoo. Both snowflake fairies jumped in surprise.

"It's Viola.", Chill said under her breath.

Qana looked to the sky and saw a brown-haired fairy wearing a red dress and what appeared to be a helmet with a feather on top of it. She put her reed kazoo back to her lips and blew into it a second time.

Qana blocked her ears. "Oh, dear. What now?"

Viola was the head of the queen's summoning fairies. These fairies were not exactly the most popular in Pixie Hollow, even the scouts frowned at the mere mention of them, because everyone they called up always thought they were in trouble. Plus, they made a lot of noise. Viola landed before Chill.

She pointed Chill. "You there. Your name is Chill, isn't it? The queen wants to speak with you and your human friend urgently."

Viola inspected the scene then frowned impatiently.

"Where is he, anyway?", she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Chill looked at Viola, still having trouble believing that the queen wanted to see her.

"What's the problem?", Qana tried to ask politely.

"Queen Clarion says that it's confidential.", Viola replied. "It shouldn't take long. I hope not, anyway."

Chill nodded. "Well, I'll go get Nick."

"I'll be waiting.", Viola replied.

While Chill flew to her house, inside, Nick had just awakened and stepped out of bed. He had barely finished doing so when Chill stormed inside, surprising him.

"What's _your_ hurry?", he asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"You've got to come with me.", Chill said. "Viola's here to pick us up!"

"Who's Viola?", Nick asked. "And why does she worry you so much?"

"She's a summoning fairy.", Chill explained. "When she shows up, it means that the queen wants to see someone, and that it's urgent. She's here to take us to the queen, come, she's in a hurry. Plus she's not real easy to deal with."

Nick and Chill raced back to Viola's location.

"So, you must be Nick, then?", she asked. "I'm Viola, one of the queen's summoning fairies."

"So it's you, huh? Yeah.", Nick replied. "Is it true, you're here to take us to the queen?"

"Yes it is.", Viola replied.

Nick sighed. "Well, I'd better start walking."

"No, there's no time.", said Viola, then reached into her shirt, pulling out a leaf bag. "This is pixie dust, courtesy of Queen Clarion. I'll pour it over your head. You'll be flying to save time."

"Flying?", Nick asked, unsure. "Will this really work; I don't have wings."

"You don't need wings.", Viola replied. "This dust can give any creature the ability to fly for a period of time. This is just a one-time deal. She gave it a lot of thought before handing me this. When the queen wants to speak with you, you shouldn't keep her waiting."

Viola flew toward Nick, opened the bag and poured the dust on him. He began to glow, like he had before Baden and Wolf saved him. The two fairies took to the air.

"Hey, this feels weird.", he said as his feet left the ground.

"Hey, you'll get used to it.", said Viola. "Here, I'll steer you. Otherwise it'll just take too long."

She took his hand to help him fly as the two fairies and the human flew toward their intended destination, Queen Clarion's chamber in the pixie dust tree. As they left Winter Woods, Viola sighed with relief. She was glad to return to a warmer climate.

She turned to Chill. "To be honest, I don't know how you snowflake fairies manage to endure such cold weather."

Chill shrugged and shook her head, not knowing how to answer. At last, Viola, Chill and Nick arrived at the pixie dust tree. The council chamber was a wide room that was located underneath the pixie dust well, and the queen stood inside, waiting for Nick and Chill.

"This will certainly break their hearts.", she thought to herself. "But I no longer have a choice."

Viola, Chill and Nick landed inside the queen's council chamber. Viola released Nick's hand, flew toward Queen Clarion, bowed to her then stepped beside her. The fairy queen dismissed the summoning fairy, who flew outside the chamber, out of sight.

"You wanted to see us?", Nick asked.

"Yes, young man.", Queen Clarion began. "I have called you here because it is time for you to leave Pixie Hollow and return home."

Nick and Chill both gasped.

"I cannot prolong your stay." the queen continued. "Word is already spreading of your presence, and fairies are beginning to fear for their safety."

"Fear for their safety?", Nick asked. "What harm could I possibly do them?"

"There must be a mistake of some kind!", said Chill. "Qana and I have spent the last few days with him and we're still alive, aren't we?"

Queen Clarion shook her head. "I'm sorry, both of you. Many of them are convinced that he will seek their doom the first chance he gets, and I understand them."

Chill lowered her head. Nick knew he had unfinished business, however.

"But, I can't leave yet.", Nick said. "This is all so sudden, I haven't even had the time to say goodbye to Qana."

Queen Clarion thought for a moment then nodded. "Very well, then. If you feel the need to bid her farewell, then fine. But be sure to return here immediately afterward."

Chill watched Nick as he "floated" toward Winter Woods. It was strange seeing someone without wings fly. It looked a little funny, to be honest. However, Chill was in absolutely no mood to laugh. She cupped her hands together and looked Queen Clarion right in the eye.

"Please, Queen Clarion!", she begged. "You can't; there must be another way..."

The queen raised her hand to hush the snowflake fairy.

"No, I'm afraid there is not.", she said strictly. "And as for the reason why I've called _you_, do not think that I don't know about your scheme to bring him and Qana together."

Speechless, Chill simply gulped.

"You know very well that that is like betraying our existence, which is punishable.", Queen Clarion continued. "As such, you will not be going to the mainland for winter this year."

Thorougly upset, Chill took off for Winter Woods herself. However, it wasn't the queen's punishment that made her angry. She didn't care. There was something she wanted to do before Nick left as well. She had decided she wanted to take a chance since if she were to meet him again, he wouldn't remember her. Meanwhile, Nick arrived in Winter Woods and looked for Qana. He found her still creating snowflakes. He took a deep breath.

"Hey, Qana.", he called out.

Qana stopped working and turned to him, surprised to see him fly. "Hi, Nick. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or did someone actually give you pixie dust?"

Nick landed before Qana.

"No, I got dust. Your eyes are fine. The queen apparently thought hard before giving it to me.", he replied. "Surprised, huh?"

Qana nodded. "Yeah, quite a bit. So, what did the queen want to tell you?"

"Well, the queen says that my time's up.", Nick explained. "She wants to send me back home."

Qana's eyes widened.

"What?", she asked, startled. "So soon?"

"Not only that.", he continued. "She wants to make me forget everything."

Nick turned positively red, then stared at his feet. "Qana, the reason I'm here is that there's something I've got to say to you while I still remember, and I'm not quite sure how to say it."

Qana motioned for him to speak. "Go on, I won't bite. I'm listening."

"I've only said this once before.", he told Qana, looking a bit uncomfortable. "So you promise not to think I'm pathetic?"

"Why would I think you're pathetic", Qana asked, "as long as you're honest."

Nick took another deep breath.

"It's just that...", Nick said at last., "Well, I love you, Qana."

Qana gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, my...", she said, shocked.

Nick looked at her expectantly as she sighed.

"Listen, I'm flattered.", she continued. "I think you're a very nice human, but I don't love you back. Besides, if the queen gets her way, you won't even remember me!"

"But...", Nick started, but shut his mouth immediately.

"I'm sorry." Qana told him. "I just don't feel anything for you that way."

Nick took two steps back, keeping a surprised look on his face. He looked positively pale and his chin trembled. A deathly gasp that sounded like he was choking escaped his throat as he slowly turned around, then sobbed as he began to run. Qana would never forget that sound.

"Wait!", Qana called out. "I didn't mean to..."

Qana's voice trailed off, as Nick didn't hear her or turn back. He kept running. He had no idea where he was going, just that he was running away from Qana, struggling to keep the tears from flowing out of his eyes.


	7. Death And Sorrow

---  
Author's note  
---

Personally, this is not my favorite chapter. I've had a lot of difficulty writing this one, and I found myself pushing out some of these ideas. It may not be the one I like most, but I've written worse. After all, I wouldn't have posted it if it was that bad. I'm still *a little decently* pleased with how it turned out, but it is still not the best chapter in my opinion.

Also, the chapter's title is a play on "Faults and Sorrows", which is a fanfic written by my friend **Autobot Axann**.

Well, enjoy, I guess. Let's begin.

TCR

---  
Chapter VI - Death And Sorrow  
---

Qana reached out her hand to stop her human friend as she watched him recklessly running away from her. She didn't have the heart to fly after him.

"I didn't mean to say that to hurt you...", she thought out loud. "But it's the truth. It can't be."

She continued to watch as he disappeared into the distance, cringing as she thought of the sound he had made earlier. While she found herself frozen in place and unable to move, elsewhere, Chill was flying about looking for Nick.

"I have to tell him now.", she thought to herself. "I'm not going to get another chance."

When she entered Winter Woods, she saw someone running out of it. She looked closer and found out that it was the human. She quickly changed course and followed him to his destination, which turned out to be on a cliff at the edge of Pixie Hollow, which ended abruptly before the sea. Upon arriving there, Nick stopped to look below. Nothing but raging waters lay there. He looked at the sky ahead. A storm was preparing to hit the mainland, and the sea was becoming agitated. Despite that, he appeared satisfied.

"Perfect!", he thought to himself.

Upon seeing this destination, Chill immediately halted her flight to inspect the scene. She gasped. "No..."

Suddenly overcome by a strange impulse, she flew down there as fast as her wings would let her. She watched him as he slowly stepped closer to the edge, appearing absoultely sure that he knew what he was doing. Nick put any second thoughts he had aside, took a deep breath and prepared to step over the edge.

"Nick, wait!", Chill called out at the top of her lungs.

To her surprise, it worked. Nick stepped back and looked in her direction, surprised at that outburst.

"What's she doing here?", he thought to himself silently.

Nick watched Chill land. She panted, having been exhausted by her hasty flying. She had never flown this fast before. She slightly shook her head as she stared at her friend for a moment with wide, sad eyes, not knowing what to say to him. Nick, on his end, was still shocked. She hadn't been there to witness Qana's refusal, so why did she want to stop him? It was he who ended up breaking the ice.

"I must admit I'm surprised. I wasn't expecting you to show up.", said Nick. "W-what are you doing here?"

Chill waited a moment before speaking, still catching her breath.

"I was going to ask you the same thing.", she replied, upset. "Are you out of your mind, what do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?", Nick answered. Then he thought of a lie. "I'm getting my last look at the horizon before I'm sent home."

Chill shook her head and found herself randomly gesturing with her hands.

"To me, it looks like you're about to kill yourself by falling off that cliff", she said. "Please, don't do this!"

His true intentions discovered, he sighed.

"Why not?", asked Nick. "It's not like I have a reason to live anymore."

"I agree with you when you say Queen Clarion's decision was harsh", Chill told him, "I really do, but that's hardly an explanation for what you're doing. If you promise not to jump, I'll talk to her. I just know that there's something we can do."

Nick turned away from Chill and looked down at the raging sea below him.

"It's got nothing to do with you or Queen Clarion. There's nothing that can be done now, it's over.", Nick said emphatically. "So, I'm not promising anything, because nothing's going to happen."

"But why...", Chill whispered. She was at a loss for other words.

"Now I'd rather be sent home that deal with what just happened to me.", Nick angrily declared. "And believe me, I have no intention _whatsoever_ of going back home. This is the only other option."

"Help me out here.", Chill begged. "_What_ is it exactly that happened to you?"

Nick paused for a second. Should he tell her? No, let her find out on her own. He then turned to Chill.

"Ask Qana.", he said simply. "I'm sure it'll be her pleasure to tell you."

Chill looked at him, confused. "Tell me what?"

Nick waved at her. "Goodbye, Chill. It was nice knowing you and I'm sorry to leave you like this. I'm grateful to you for giving me shelter. But no matter what happens, I'll have to let Qana go. And I'm afraid I can't do that. Life without Qana means nothing to me."

Immediately after Nick finished speaking, he spread out his arms and let himself drop off the cliff.

"No!", Chill cried.

She suddenly flew forward and reached out to attempt to grab him, but her efforts were in vain. Her hands gripped onto air and Nick careened off the cliff. She had no choice but to watch him crash into the raging waters below. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she stared at where Nick hit the water. She looked for signs of life, hoping to see him struggling to get out and make an effort to save himself. Alas, the water showed no signs of resistance. She could no longer see him at all.

"Don't leave me...", Chill found herself whispering.

A tear began to fall from her eye as she lowered her head and wept quietly. Flashbacks of the time they spent together played in her mind, further adding to her woes. She smiled a bit when she recalled the laughs she had had watching him blush in front of Qana. Looking up and wiping the tear away, she flew away hoping to find Qana; she wanted to hear her side of the story. When she found her, she was still standing in the same spot she had been in minutes ago when she last spoke to Nick.

"Qana.", Chill called.

Qana gave Chill an almost blank stare as she landed in front of her.

"What in Never Land happened?", Chill asked. "I saw Nick just racing away from you."

"Chill.", Qana stated. "Now I think I understand why you sent us those letters."

Suddenly, Chill began to piece things together.

Chill gasped. "What? He told you?"

Qana nodded. "For a human he was a nice guy but I never imagined that he felt that way about me."

Qana looked at Chill.

"Did you see where he was headed?", Qana asked her. "He seemed so upset."

"I saw where he was headed, all right. I followed him.", Chill replied. "But I honestly don't think you'll want to hear it."

"Actually", said Qana, "I do. What's going on?"

Chill lowered her head

"He's dead.", she said at last, dragging out the words.

Qana gasped.

"What? How?", she asked.

"He ran to a cliff at the edge of Pixie Hollow, and he jumped off into the sea.", Chill explained. "He didn't even try to fight the water or save himself. I tried to stop him, but I failed."

Both fairies stared at each other for a moment before saying anything.

"Why would he do such a thing?", Qana quietly asked.

"That's the part I found particularly interesting: when I asked him why he wanted to do that", Chill answered, "he said 'ask Qana'. What was that all about, huh? What did you tell him?"

"I just told him the truth, that I didn't love him.", Qana replied. "That it couldn't be."

Chill nodded. "That explains everything. The man might not have been a sparrowman, but his feelings were sincere. Why, Qana?"

"Because", Qana explained, "he wanted to give me something I couldn't accept. I could never love a human."

Chill opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She then felt a surge of anger against her friend, and by the time she tried to stop it, it was too late.

"I want the truth!" she demanded. "Otherwise I'll just have to tell myself that _you_ killed him!"

"_I_ killed him?", Qana asked. "Are you insane?"

Chill nodded. "If you had looked past what he was like I did, he'd still be alive and..."

"It has nothing to do with what he was.", Qana at last said impatiently. "I have my reasons, now please, stop."

Heartbroken at these accusations, Qana simply flew away. Chill simply watched her leave as she bit her lip, this time to prevent herself from crying rather than laughing. Chill had just made a terrible mistake in taking out her failure on her best friend. She certainly didn't intend to be as resentful as she sounded. That wasn't her style. Neither did Qana. She was just at the same time irritated by Chill's constant accusations and devastated that she was able to inspire someone to die. More than ever before, Qana hated death.

Deciding to try and forget the ordeal using snow grains and her talent in Winter Woods, she sat down and began to craft a snowflake. However, she absent-mindedly made it human-shaped. She sighed and tossed it against a tree, where it shattered back into snow grains.

"What's _wrong_ with me?", Qana asked out loud. "I didn't even love the guy and now he won't get out of my head!"

What it was that shook her so much was the fact that _she_ was the reason he decided to kill himself. She felt guilty, but at the same time, had this nagging feeling inside of her that she had done nothing wrong. After all, Qana had told the truth. She knew that all her friends had to be extremely patient to get where they are.

But her friends were fairies. Nick was a human. Humans and fairies weren't supposed to come into contact with each other, let alone fall in love, especially grown-ups. Most grown-ups were notorious for thinking or even saying that fairies didn't exist, since for whatever reason they lost the power to believe. Each time one did, a fairy died.

This, as you may recall, was the reason Queen Clarion found Nick strange. Because he didn't do that. Qana had seen a fairy die of disbelief with her own eyes. She was even one of her own. If you saw a fairy die this way, she would simply seem to expire out of the blue for no apparent reason. However, the fairies knew what caused the death. Some humans were even feared for swatting fairies like they were flies.

It happened once. A garden fairy was killed by a fly-swatter while awakening the flowers in her killer's garden. Since then, the Ministers were accompanied by additional scouts when they went to the mainland to deliver seasons.

Meanwhile, Chill flew toward the pixie dust tree. She had to tell Queen Clarion what had happened so that she would not get restless waiting for Nick. Queen Clarion was standing in the council chamber and she was beginning to feel impatient. She slowly floated around the chamber, occasionally looking outside for fairies other than her summoning fairies. One only knew the queen was impatient from her mannerisms. Because her face appeared as calm and serene as always. The look on her face brightened ever so slightly when Chill arrived.

"Chill.", the queen welcomed her despite having punished her. "Where is your human friend? He still has not returned."

"I'm afraid I have some terrible news, Queen Clarion.", Chill confessed. "Nick won't be coming back here. Ever. As a matter of fact, he won't be going anywhere ever again."

Queen Clarion's eyes widened.

"Whatever do you mean?", she asked, genuinely concerned.

Chill lowered her head and stared at the ground. She didn't dare look her queen in the eye. At first, she kept quiet.

"Please, dear.", Queen Clarion said, "The fairies are getting restless for news on your friend's departure."

Chill took a deep breath and nodded. She decided to come out with the truth, even if it meant that she would start crying.

"Nick died just a few minutes ago.", she replied. "Qana turned his love down and apparently it hurt him so much that he jumped into the ocean."

Queen Clarion sighed, both of disbelief and relief. So he took his secret with him, she thought. She no longer had the obligation to take away his memory, Pixie Hollow had nothing to fear. And yet, there was this motherly instinct within her. While she didn't care for the human, she still felt sympathy for Chill.

"I tried to save him.", Chill added, "but it was no use."

For the first time, Queen Clarion noticed from the tone of Chill's voice that she had feelings for the young visitor. Her feeling of sympathy only grew stronger. Putting her anger from the incident with the letters aside, the fairy queen returned to her motherly nature and decided to try to console her. She put her hand on the snowflake fairy's shoulder.

"You loved him, didn't you?", asked the queen in her usual calm tone.

"I don't know, your Highness.", Chill replied. "What does love feel like, and how can you tell I feel it?"

"It's evident from the tone of your voice.", Queen Clarion added, "and how you speak about him. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to watch him disappear like this."

"It was.", said Chill.

"I know you don't believe me when I say this since the reason I wanted him gone was to protect Pixie Hollow", the queen continued, "but I'm sorry for your loss."

Finally in private with someone she could trust, Chill burst into tears. Queen Clarion approached her and held her close so she could cry on her shoulder.

"Thank you, but the fault is mine for endearing myself to a human.", Chill confessed. "I'm so sorry, Queen Clarion. What's worse, I go and take it out on Qana. I don't know how to make it up to her."

"It sounds to me like you two need a nice long talk.", the queen replied. "I'll have Viola summon Qana and then we'll be able to smooth things out."

"It would be best to give her some time.", said Chill "Let things kind of blow over."

Queen Clarion nodded. During this emotional moment, back in Winter Woods, Qana had returned to crafting snowflakes, despite the fact that none of the other snowflake fairies were working, having been given a holiday by the Minister of Winter. Despite her attempts to deny it, however, she was unable to concentrate. Noticing this, the Minister of Winter, who was flying around enjoying the cold air, flew to her.

"Qana, dear.", the Minister stated. "What are you doing here? I've given you all the day off."

"I needed something to do, that's all.", Qana replied.

The Minister of Winter noticed sadness in Qana's voice and face.

"You look upset.", she said. "Is everything all right?"

Qana looked up to her and faked a smile. She didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her.

"Yes, I'm okay.", she lied. "Thanks for asking."

"Qana, you may be the most talented fairy I've ever worked with", the Minister added, sounding disappointed, "but I don't appreciate being lied to."

Thr Minister bent down and lifted Qana's chin with her hand.

"Why are you upset?", the Minister asked. "Perhaps I can help."

"Please, Minister, I assure you.", Qana begged. "Thank you for your offer, but I don't need help."

The Minister of Winter shrugged. "As you wish."

She rose into the air and flew away. Why, Qana asked herself. Why had she just pushed away the Minister of Winter when she had only wanted to help? She told herself that it was because she wanted to be left alone for the moment. She was still struggling with the nasty surprises the day had left her with. First, she had recieved a declaration of love she did not return, which ended in death, and had a falling out with her best friend. Worst of all, at that moment, she felt a strong rush of air that disassembled the snowflake she had been creating. Qana looked up, surprised, and saw a fairy dressed in purple who stood before her with her arms crossed. It was the fast-flying fairy Vidia, and she was smirking at her.

"Hi, sweetie!", she said with fake kindness. "I heard you killed someone with words today. I overheard your friend as she was talking to our wonderful queen. Care to tell me about it?"

Vidia rolled her eyes as she said "wonderful" with a hint of sarcasm. Qana, much like many fairies in Pixie Hollow, knew that Vidia hated Queen Clarion. It was a deep-rooted resentment that began many years ago, even before the spring preparations that started the intense rivalry between her and Tinker Bell. That was no secret. Qana ignored her and prepared to restart the lost snowflake.

"Hey, what's the matter?", Vidia continued. "Hawk got your tongue?"

Qana looked up to Vidia and shook her head.

"Please, I'm in the mood for this.", said Qana. "I want to be left alone right now."

Vidia smirked as she ran her hand through her hair. "Suit yourself, darling."

The fast-flying fairy left, blowing snow grains off the ground above her. Qana sighed with relief. It's not that she didn't like Vidia. Qana never had any ill will toward anyone. It's just that she knew what the fast-flying fairy was disliked for, and Qana had no interest in dealing with her remarks at that moment.

Alone at last, Qana returned to work. After two hours and over a hundred snowflakes, most of her anger and sorrow had disappeared. She felt like a huge burden was lifted off her shoulders. Feeling better and able to breathe again, she stopped working and began to fly home. Perhaps a nice long nap would help, she thought. Arriving home, she reached for the doorknob, but stopped. She still couldn't help but feel responsible for both Nick's death and Chill's grief, and couldn't take her mind off the sound the human had made before running off. Never in her life had she heard such a horrifying sound. Suddenly, the distraught snowflake fairy had an idea. Maybe Cooler could help her with his wisdom like he had the day she and Nick had met through Chill's letters.

"I can always trust him.", Qana thought out loud

She brought her hand back to her side and promptly flew to Cooler's house. Qana decided that the best thing to do was to consult him, and after doing that, her guilt would go away for sure. She thought of what to say to him as she flew.


	8. The Mysterious Cloud

---  
Author's note  
---

I'm getting annoying with my author's notes, huh? XD OK, I'll keep it short.

Sorry for the delay, guys! :P

Well, I just want to say that I'm proud of this one. I really like it. But I'm not the reader, so you be the judge.

On a side note, I'm beginning to be questioned regarding when my monster will show up. It will soon, ladies and gentlemen, be patient. I would not have said that there was one if there actually wasn't. You get what I'm trying to say? Yes? Then that's what's important.

---  
Chapter VII - The Mysterious Cloud  
---

Qana arrived before Cooler's house, with a strange and somewhat eerie feeling of familiarity setting inside of her. After hesitating and taking a few breaths, Qana knocked on the sparrowman's door, once again being careful not to scrape her knuckles on the thistle hide. Seconds later, Cooler appeared at the door, appearing happy to have company.

"Hi", he greeted. "How's my favorite visitor?"

"Not so good.", said Qana, who then lowered her head.

"Care to share it with me?", he asked.

"Yeah, I'd really like that.", Qana replied.

"Come on in", Cooler invited.

This time, Qana did not refuse. She nodded, then entered the snowflake sparrowman's home and looked around. Inside, it looked like a human igloo with a moss floor. The house looked a little bit smaller inside than it did outside. This house was as old as Cooler himself, and Qana almost felt as comfortable inside of it as she did in her own house.

"Go ahead and have a seat.", Cooler said. "I'll fix you a nice cup of tea."

Qana smiled. "Thanks."

Locating a stool, she sat down. She then took the time to look around. She smiled when she saw a group painting of the snowflake fairies, made for them by Blair, the pioneer of the painting fairies. She was also the one charged with painting outfits, including Queen Clarion's garments. In this group painting, the Minister of Winter stood by the guild, smiling proudly. It had just been redone with its newest member, Hail. Qana 'awwed' when she noticed her pupil's cute, rosy cheeks. She then saw herself standing next to Laska, who had an arm around her and Chill, all three with wide grins, and a tear flowed down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry...", she thought to herself.

When Cooler arrived, he sat in front of her and handed her a cup of tea, when he noticed her tear.

"You're crying.", he said. "Whatever's going on, I sense that it's pretty serious."

Qana wiped the tear from her cheek. "It's just that whenever I see Chill's face, I think about what a horrible day I've been having so far."

"Horrible day?", Cooler asked, concerned.

"Well", said Qana, "you remember yesterday when I saw you about the letter I got?"

"I do.", Cooler continued. "You were worried about the guy who wrote it."

"It turns out", Qana explained, "that Chill had written it to get me closer to him, because he loved me. I felt betrayed."

Qana continued as she saw a surprised look on Cooler's face. "Well today, he came to me to tell me that he loved me, but I didn't return his feelings, so I told him that."

Qana took a sip of tea.

"He didn't take it very well, did he?", Cooler asked.

Qana quickly swallowed. "How did you know that?"

"Well, it's simple, really. I could tell by the tone of your voice.", Cooler continued. "When you talk, I detect sadness in your voice. What happened?"

"Well", said Qana, "after I told him, Chill said she saw him run for a cliff and jump off."

Cooler nodded for Qana to continue, interested.

"Chill and I then got into this big fight, she blames me for her loss and I leave her.", Qana finished. "Never had I imagined that she had it in her to be so angry."

Qana never wanted to see Chill angry again. That sight had scared her. She learned that even a happy-go-lucky fairy like Chill could become so wrathful, and it made her want to cry.

"And now I can't stop feeling guilty for what I said.", Qana confessed. "It's annoying me, because I also know I did the right thing by being honest. I need your help to get rid of the guilt, I can't concentrate on anything else."

"It sounds to me like you're sad that this incident also affected Chill, and then there's the thing about her blaming you, I think _that's_ why you feel guilty.", Cooler thought out loud. "You probably feel responsible for her pain."

"That's got to be it.", Qana said. "Please, tell me what to do."

"Oh...", Cooler hesitated before speaking. "Well, then I'm afraid you came to the wrong place, Qana."

Qana's heart sank.

"W-what do you mean?", she asked.

"You know you can come here any time you want to.", Cooler assured, "but I can't get rid of guilt for you. You have to learn to get past it yourself."

"But, how...?", Qana pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Qana.", Cooler replied. "I can't help you. It's your call to make, not mine."

Qana slowly rose up from her stool and set her tea cup down.

She faked a smile. "Thanks anyway, Cooler."

"You're welcome", the sparrowman said. "I'm sorry I can't be of help."

Qana walked out of the house, with Cooler looking at her with sad eyes as she flew to her own house. If there was one thing he hated, it was being asked for help and then not knowing how to provide it. It made him feel like he was failing the other. He pouted as he slowly closed his door.

Meanwhile, Chill flew back from the pixie dust well to look for Qana to make amends. She entered Winter Woods when suddenly, the ground shook very lightly and a loud explosion was heard. Realizing that it came from behind her, she immediately stopped flying and turned around to see a large orange cloud in the sky.

"What in Never Land is that?", she asked, trembling.

Chill stared at the source of the noise, trying to figure out what she was looking at. After a few seconds, the huge cloud began to form a vague mushroom-like shape.

"Phew!", Chill laughed. "It's just some giant, funny-looking toadstool! Nothing to worry about."

Further away, Baden, Wolf and a few scouts, who were stationed in the air in Fall Forest, had a far less positive reaction when they saw the mysterious mass. Baden took his dewdrop and tree bark binoculars and looked at the cloud up close.

"I don't like the looks of that smoke.", Baden stated.

"What is it?", Wolf asked, looking through his own binoculars.

"I don't know.", Baden replied. "I just know that I have a bad feeling about it because of that loud noise that came before it..."

"It sounded like some kind of explosion", said a scout fairy. "I think it came from the mainland."

"I've never seen anything like it!", another scout sparrowman declared. "Look at the size of it!"

Baden shook his head as he continued to stare into the distance. His instincts kept telling him that the mushroom cloud was a bad sign. He and the other scouts collectively decided on Baden monitoring the smoke while Wolf and the others were on the lookout for the fairies' natural enemies. Baden continued his watch when suddenly, he noticed something in the air approaching, seeming to fly away from the cloud.

"Guys, check it out!", he called to them. "Something's flying toward here."

The other scouts turned his way. Wolf took his binoculars and studied the distant creature.

"It's a bird of some kind.", he told Baden. "I think it's trying to escape from the smoke."

The scouts continued to watch the bird. As it gradually flew closer to their location, Baden trembled and gasped when he realized exactly what kind of bird it was. He took a deep breath.

"_Hawk!!_", he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Everywhere, fairies who had heard him scrambled to find hiding spots while telling fairies further away to do the same. Indeed, a giant falcon, one of many predatory bird species called hawks, entered Pixie Hollow, screeching as it flew at top speed. Baden, Wolf and the other scouts ducked as the bird flew over them, scratching off a few hairs from Wolf's head with its talons. When it passed, they looked at the bird and noticed where it was headed: right into Winter Woods!

"Guys, come on!", Baden ordered. "We've got to stop that guy before Qana and the others get hurt! Hurry up, there's no time to lose!"

The other scouts hurried behind Baden as he raced toward Winter Woods. Meanwhile, inside the Woods, Qana was flying toward her house, trying to clear her mind. She had been too distracted to notice the sound, the cloud or the approaching danger. When she arrived, she landed before her door, determined to get inside and sleep her worries away. She reached for the doorknob prepared to open the door. Up in the air, Chill spotted her and began to fly to her.

"Qana!", Chill called out. "Wait up."

Qana did not hear her friend calling, but further up in the sky, something else did. The hawk, having arrived in Winter Woods, screeched loudly as it made a dive for Chill. She managed to dodge it, just barely.

"_Eek!!_", she cried as the bird's beak snapped shut, barely missed her. "A hawk!"

As she began to recover from the shock, the hawk searched for her. However, that was when it noticed the helpless Qana. It screeched again and swooped downward in her direction.

"_Qana, look out!!_", Chill screamed.

This time, Qana heard her and turned her way. A shriek of terror escaped her mouth as she began to frantically fly to avoid the massive bird, who relentlessly pursued her, determined to have her for lunch.

"Oh no, this is terrible!", Chill thought out loud. "I gotta go get help!"

She raced away from the scene as frantically as Qana was flying away from her attacker, calling for help. Baden, Wolf and the others, who had arrived in Winter Woods, heard her pleas and looked in her direction. They quickly flew toward her.

"Chill!", Baden called out. "Over here!"

The desperate snowflake fairy didn't even take time to sigh with relief. She raced in their direction. At last, the two stopped in front of each other.

"You okay?", Wolf asked.

Chill was on the verge of crying. "Never mind me, Qana's in trouble!"

"Where is she?", Baden asked, worried. "The hawk's after her, isn't he?"

"Oh, he's after her all right!", Chill replied. "Please, you've got to help her!"

Baden nodded. "We will, I promise!"

Baden turned to the other scouts as Chill listened anxiously.

"Okay guys, here's the plan.", he quickly explained. "I'll go on ahead and distract him. You spread out and gather as much snow as you can. Add a little ice too, but not too much. When you're done, regroup, join me and let him have it! Hurry!"

Wolf and the other scouts nodded and scattered. Baden turned toward Chill.

"You're still here?", he asked. "Go on, hide!"

Chill nodded and ducked behind a hill, keeping quiet and occasionally sticking her head out to check on her friend. Baden resumed his flight, searching for the hawk. When he found it, it had cornered Qana, who had tried to elude it by hiding in a snow-covered pine tree. The hawk had trouble getting inside to eat her. It was ramming its head into the tree, trying to break into it. He cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey petalhead!", he screamed at the hawk, who turned in his direction.

Qana discretely peeked outside her hiding spot and smiled, relieved, when she saw Baden.

"Leave my friend alone, you bully!", he continued. "What did she ever do to you?"

The hawk uttered an angry, low-pitched screech and darted in Baden's direction.

"Good, he's taken the bait.", Baden thought to himself.

Further away, Wolf was collecting snow, when he heard the hawk screeching nearby. He raised his head and saw Baden flying overhead, the hawk not far behind him. Feeling brave and wanting to fight his first hawk to impress Baden, he made two giant snowballs and quickly flew upward. He stopped in midair.

"Yo! Dodo-brain!", he shouted.

Wolf then hurled the first snowball, which struck the hawk's head. Startled, the bird stopped in its tracks, turned its head and glared at Wolf. Baden looked on, both impressed and proud of his understudy. The hawk turned around and flew for Wolf. The young scout's first instinct was to run, but he ignored it and glared back at the animal. The hawk closed in and opened its mouth. Wolf concentrated and aimed carefully, exhaling sharply, before tossing the snowball into its mouth. The hawk screeched in surprise, shivered and finally took off and flew away, defeated. It continued until it left Pixie Hollow, completely out of sight. Qana and Baden stared at Wolf, positively mesmerized. Baden and Wolf flew toward Qana and stopped next to her.

"Qana, thank goodness!", Baden exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks.", she panted.

"Phew! Excellent.", Baden replied.

Qana flew over and briefly hugged Wolf. "Thanks for saving my life. You were amazing back there."

"It was nothing, just doing my job.", Wolf replied.

"Wolf, I must say I'm impressed.", Baden commented. "You fought off your first hawk today. Congratulations! That was a real clever shot."

"It was a _lucky_ shot.", Wolf replied modestly. "I took a big risk there."

"And it paid off. How did it feel?", Baden asked.

"Awesome!", Wolf cried.

"Well, I'll be honest, that's how you should feel.", Baden said. "Because that's how you did. I'm proud of you, kid."

A wide grin appeared on Baden's face. Wolf grinned back, proud to finally have impressed him. The rest of the scout guild appeared and circled Baden and Wolf

"Well, I think we ought to celebrate this!", Baden announced. "Wolf saved Qana and Chill's lives today. The baking fairies are making some delicious blackberry cake for lunch today. Let's all go and eat some together. Qana, you and Chill are invited."

"We'll join you in a minute.", Qana said. "I just need to relax and catch my breath."

"We'll wait for you there.", Baden said. "Come on, let's go."

While the scouts flew away and congratulated their newest member, Qana landed and kneeled on the ground to catch her breath. Thrilled that her friend was even still breathing, Chill hurried to her side.

"Qana, are you all right?", Chill asked. "I thought I was going to lose you there."

Qana looked up to Chill and smiled, deeply touched. Despite their heated argument earlier that day, her friend still cared for her. She nodded.

"Yeah, thanks.", Qana replied. "And you?"

"I've been better myself.", Chill added. "But that doesn't matter at all. If you're all right, then I'm all right too."

The two friends stared at each other for the moment as Qana began to get her breath back. After their mutual close call, their previous argument no longer seemed significant. Chill took a deep breath, deciding to make the first move.

"Qana, I wanted to apologize for taking this whole thing out on you.", Chill confessed. "I guess I was just upset at my failure to save him, and I kinda lost it for a minute. It was the wrong thing to do and I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me?"

Chill held out her hand. Qana looked at her face and eyes. She could still see the pain and the anger, but at the same time, she began to recognize that the Chill she knew and appreciated was returning, and it reassured her. She did not hesitate to reach for Chill's hand to stand up and shake it.

"I forgive you.", Qana said sweetly. "I wanted to apologize to you too, Chill. I realize how much he meant to you, and also that the truth hurts sometimes. He was my friend too, and I can't say I don't miss him. But I didn't know it would have that kind of effect on you. I couldn't help but feel responsible for your sorrow."

Chill sighed. "Oh, Qana. That's not important anymore. The truth may hurt, and it still does, but it was awesome of you to tell it. Honesty always leads to happiness in the long run. You're forgiven! I don't want my pain to end our friendship, Qana."

Qana felt tears well up in her eyes. She quietly sobbed.

"Neither do I, and it won't.", Qana replied.

She bent forward and hugged Chill, crying tears of joy. She had never been happier to see Chill in her life. Chill, glad that the tension between them was gone, hugged back, crying herself.

"Thank you.", Chill told Qana.

About two minutes later, they ended their hug and smiled at each other.

"Well, the boys are going to the tearoom to celebrate Wolf's victory", Qana told Chill, "and we've been invited. Shall we go?"

Chill nodded and giggled. She was relieved to be back to her happy self again. "I'd be a fool to pass that up. The kid's got a big heart. He deserves it."

Chill and Qana flew side by side out of Winter Woods in the direction of the tearoom, which was also inside the pixie dust tree, to join the scout fairies in their celebration. Inside the tearoom were Queen Clarion and Fairy Mary. Queen Clarion took a sip of tea as she looked at Qana and Chill and smiled contently, happy to see them in harmony again. She turned to Fairy Mary and proposed a toast to their health, to which Fairy Mary happily drank as well. Life had finally returned to normal in Pixie Hollow. For the moment...


	9. The Winter Scepter

---  
Author's note  
---

OMIGODS! I am so sorry for taking so long to upload this! I got back to school and my schedule is hectic. I'm doing a lot more homework than before because after flunking 2 classes last semester, I can't afford to lose any more credits. So future chapters may be a little slower like this one was, and they'll take longer to write.

Here it is now. All I can hope is that it's worth the wait! The chapter title is a bit of a pun. You'll understand later as you read it! ;)

The character **Zazie** is used with permission from **Autobot Axann**. Thank you! I apologize if she seems OOC in the scene she's in, but I thought the lines I wrote for her suited her nicely.

---  
Chapter VIII - The Winter Scepter  
---

Weeks have passed since the human visitor decided to end his own life. Queen Clarion had explained the circumstances of his disappearance to the fairies, who were greatly relieved to hear of his departure, and life had basically returned to normal in Pixie Hollow. Not even the babbling brook in Havendish Stream spoke of him anymore.

For the most part, Nick's presence had been almost completely erased and forgotten. The fairies had returned to preparing for autumn as if nothing had happened, a task which was very near completion. A painting fairy by the name of Lady flew into Harvest Promenade, carrying a bucket of berry paint. Her name had come from her passion for painting ladybugs. She laid the bucket on the ground with the rest of them, then sighed. Because it was the last one she had to make. Earlier she had watched her friend, Blair, do the same.

"Well, that's the last of them!", she thought out loud. "After the season's delivered, I can get back to perfecting those dots even more!"

She proudly looked around. Some of the other talents were already done, and very few preparations actually remained. She saw a group of animal fairies, let by Fawn, talking about how they would help the animals begin hibernation. Nollie, another animal fairy, flew in, carrying nuts for squirrels on the mainland. Fawn flew in her direction to help her. They would be helping the animals store food for when they would reawaken.

As he had weeks ago, the Minister of Autumn appeared, surprised to see that the fairies had already managed to finish the preparations. He slowly landed and looked around, and a wide grin spread across his face, and a small tear flowed down his cheek. The fairies gasped at this sight. Truth be told, very rarely was the Minister of Autumn this emotional.

"My apologies, fairies!", he said, wiping the tear from his eye. "There is no room for tears at such a happy time."

He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Autumn fairies, congratulations on another season successfully completed!", he said. "What makes it even better is that you have done so in record time! Queen Clarion will be very proud, much like myself!"

"Indeed I am!", replied a familar voice.

The Minister of Autumn turned around and saw Queen Clarion arriving along with the Ministers of Summer, Spring and Winter. The Minister of Autumn raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had not noticed a stream of pixie dust like before.

"Oh, Queen Clarion!", he greeted. "I did not expect you here so soon."

"I wished to surprise you, Minister.", the queen replied. "But it appears as if I will be the one who will fly away surprised! Look at them."

Queen Clarion hovered closer to the crowd of autumn fairies while the other three Ministers chose to take their place near the Minister of Autumn. The Minister of Winter put her hands to her chest and smiled, but said nothing. The Minister of Spring merely settled for a simple smile, and the Minister of Summer tried to contain her excitement.

Queen Clarion's mouth curved into a wide smile and her eyes lit up. She hovered toward the crowd of autumn fairies.

"I hope you are all proud of yourselves!", she announced. "The preparations for autumn have been completed early this year, thanks to your hard work and dedication!"

The Minister of Autumn smiled and flew beside Queen Clarion. She looked at him and smiled herself, knowing what that look meant. The Minister of Autumn nodded.

"It is time, your highness.", he said simply.

Queen Clarion nodded.

"You may leave and have some rest, fairies! You have earned it", the Minister of Autumn told the other fairies. "Thanks to you, we will not be leaving for the mainland for another two weeks anyway."

"I will return here for my final review", Queen Clarion added, "after which this season will recieve my approval to be delivered on the mainland. Good night to you all!"

The other fairies smiled and each of them flew back toward their homes, eager to leave for the mainland. The other Ministers slowly left for home as well. Queen Clarion and the Minister of Autumn flew toward the pixie dust tree and entered her chamber. When they landed, the Minister of Autumn turned to Queen Clarion.

"My queen", he began, "I have chosen the talent guild that will create the Fall Scepter for the upcoming Autumn Revelry."

The queen turned to the Minister and smiled. Even her eyes were filled with happiness. She raised her left eyebrow when she saw a faint sparkle in the Minister of Autumn's eyes. This was a sight not even she got to see often.

"Very well.", Queen Clarion replied. "We all know what that means."

She looked outside and saw dust-keeper fairies flying overhead, carrying bags of pixie dust to the location of the autumn preparations. Fairy Gary turned to her and waved, and she waved back. She turned her head to the left and noticed Viola circling about, awaiting an order from her.

"Viola.", Queen Clarion called. "Will you come here, please?"

The summoning fairy turned to her and flew in the direction of the chamber. Once she entered, she saluted to the queen and the Minister.

"What is it you wish of me, Queen Clarion?", she asked.

Queen Clarion tried to supress a smile. While one could obviously see that Viola was trying to appear serious, her pretty face remained likable even when serious.

"Viola, it is time to choose the fairy responsible for creating the Fall Scepter for the Autumn Revelry, and the Minister of Autumn has chosen the guild that will build the Scepter. I will need for you to summon someone for me, please."

Viola nodded.

"Just give me this fairy's name and I will summon her to you pronto!", she said. "Obviously she must be worthy of an audience with you!"

Queen Clarion smiled sweetly. "Excellent. Minister?"

The Minister of Autumn smiled as well. "Now, will you please hastily get..."

Meanwhile, in Winter Woods, Qana, Chill and Laska were talking while working on winter.

"...out of here!", Qana exclaimed, laughing. "That is just not true, I don't believe you!"

"It is!", Laska explained. "When I arrived here, Chill thought I was you playing a prank!"

Chill, who was seated nearby, blushed. Laska looked almost exactly like Qana: she had a very similar face and her hair was almost the same, save for her long ponytail, and wore a different dress. Other than that, they were difficult to tell apart.

Qana giggled. "I don't play pranks! It's not my style. Well, unless it's bugging Cooler with that joke I constantly tell him about you liking him. But it's just funny to watch him!"

Laska giggled.

"Really?", she said. "I've never seen his reaction!"

Qana opened her mouth to speak, but a strangely familiar loud noise cut her off. The snowflake fairies looked up to the sky. Viola was flying toward them at high speed.

"What, again?", Chill asked.

"I wonder what she would want?", Laska asked.

Viola continued to fly toward them. The three friends braced themselves for what Viola would say, but most importantly, _who_ she was summoning. Qana swallowed then held her breath.

That is when Viola surprised them all and flew past them and continued into the distance.

"Who in Never Land could she be coming for", Chill asked, "if it's not us?"

"I don't know", Laska replied, "but I'm relieved it's not either of us!"

"Me too.", Qana whispered. "I get a bad vibe from her."

Qana's two friends nodded. The three fairies shrugged and returned to work. Moments later, Viola reappeared.

"Hey, look!", Laska pointed to her. "Viola's back."

Qana and Chill looked in the summoning fairy's direction and was caught off-guard by the fairy who was accompanying her.

Chill gasped. "Whoa! It's the Minister of Winter!"

Qana turned her head and saw for herself.

"What in the...", she whispered.

"I dunno", Chill replied, "but by the looks of things, it's pretty big. For Viola to bring a Minister to the queen..."

The three friends simply stood there stunned, watching the two fairies leave. When they were out of sight, Qana returned to her work and was soon followed by Chill and Laska.

They worked for about two hours, scarcely speaking, being busy both moulding snow and wondering why Queen Clarion would want to see the Minister of Winter. They would soon recieve their answer. The Minister of Winter, surprisingly followed by Viola, returned to Winter Woods.

The Minister of Winter returned home, and Viola landed before Qana. The three snowflake fairies looked up, Chill displaying a look of what appeared to be annoyance on her face Upon studying Viola's face, she did not look very happy to be there either.

"Okay, this is the last time I'll intrude. At least I hope so, it's just so cold here anyway!", Viola spoke softly with a hint of irritation in her voice. "The queen wishes to see you, Qana."

Speechless, Qana pointed at herself.

"Yes.", Viola answered. "Now hurry, follow me."

Qana turned to her friends and shrugged, then rose to her feet. Chill and Laska simply turned to each other, not knowing what to say, before returning to work. Qana followed Viola, who flew her to the pixie dust tree. They arrived at Queen Clarion's chamber, where both the queen and the Minister of Autumn were waiting. Queen Clarion turned to them and smiled.

Viola motioned for Qana to fly behind her, which Qana did, and they slowly flew inside the chamber. Qana's eyes were wide open in surprise. She had never seen the queen's chamber from the inside. Qana landed, then slowly paced toward Queen Clarion.

"My queen, you have summoned me?", Qana asked.

"Yes, dear.", she replied. "It has been decided that the snowflake guild will be creating the Fall Scepter this year."

Qana gasped.

"Wow, really?", she heard herself saying.

She then blushed.

"Of course, really!", she silently thought to herself. "Why would they say it if they didn't mean it?"

"Yes.", Queen Clarion replied. "As you perhaps know, we have just spoken to the Minister of Winter."

"And when we did so", the Minister of Autumn continued, "she did not hesitate before giving us your name. She seemed quite confident about her choice."

Qana's wings fluttered quickly and she blushed again. She assumed that it was both pride and intimidation. After all, she had been chosen over all of the other winter fairies.

"Do you accept this task?", asked Queen Clarion.

Qana blushed with pride. "Oh, my. It is an honor, Minister. I accept."

"Well then", the Minister of Autumn said while handing her a blue jewel. "This is the precious moonstone. You must be extra careful with it. As you know, when the Blue Harvest Moon shines through it, blue pixie dust will be created."

Qana nodded.

"You will need to build a scepter to hold the moonstone.", the Minister continued, then walked toward a door.

Qana followed him, unsure of what to expect.

"Behold...", he began, then slowly opened the door.

Qana gasped at the room that was being revealed to her.

"...the Hall of Scepters.", finished the Minister of Autumn.

Qana gasped, smiled and put her hand to her chest. The scepters were beautiful. The Minister of Autumn saw Qana's bewilderment and allowed her a moment to contemplate the past scepters, then took a deep breath before speaking again.

"These are the Fall Scepters that other fairies had created in the past.", he explained, "When the Revelry comes upon us you will present your scepter and hold it up high so that the rays of the Blue Harvest Moon can shine right through the moonstone. This is very important, child. The pixie dust tree relies on the blue pixie dust to survive. Think of how disastrous it would be to lose the tree. After this autumn, your scepter will be placed in this hall with all of these others. Is there anything you did not understand?"

Qana shook her head. "Not at all. Thank you!"

"Excellent.", the Minister of Autum declared, satisfied. "Good luck to you, my dear."

Qana took the moonstone, carefully cupped both of her hands around it and flew out of the chamber. As she flew toward Winter Woods, she turned to the pixie dust tree and felt a tear running down her cheek. To think that the Minister of Autumn would trust _her_ over any other snowflake fairy with the well-being of the most important tree in Pixie Hollow, it made her feel extremely proud.

She finally arrived in Winter Woods and saw the Minister of Winter wave to her and smile. This was the first time Qana saw her smile in that way. It was wider than ever before. The Minister turned around, placed her left hand on her chest and sighed a happy sigh. She was proud of her prodigy as well.

Qana landed before her home, when she strangely felt like she was being followed. She turned around and saw Chill standing behind her with a curious look on her face.

"Oh, it's you!", Qana said, relieved.

"Who else would it be?", Chill asked.

Qana shrugged while smiling.

"What's that you're holding?", she asked.

Qana removed her hand from the top of the moonstone, revealing it.

"No way!", Chill said enthusiastically. "The moonstone! You've been asked to create the Fall Scepter?"

Qana nodded and smiled.

"Yeah.", Qana replied. "Isn't it amazing? They've even finished their preparations early."

Chill cupped her hands together, leaned toward Qana and stared at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Please, Qana, can I help?", she asked.

"Of course, you can!", Qana replied, then winked. "Besides, I was just going to ask you anyway!"

Chill smirked.

"Surely you're kidding.", she added. "You were about to walk in there and close the door."

Qana grinned and winked.

"Ok, maybe I was", she confessed. "But I'm glad you want to help. It's a lot more fun to work with a friend. Come on, let's get to work."

Qana opened her door and stepped inside her house. Chill cheered and followed Qana to her tea table. Qana carefully laid the moonstone onto the table and walked over to her bed. She reached under it and pulled out a large cube of ice. Seeing her struggle with it, Chill flew over and helped her lift it.

"We'll be carving it out of this thing?", she asked. "It'll be real pretty."

"That's right", Qana replied. "It's the sturdiest kind of ice in Pixie Hollow."

The two fairies began to work their magic, and found themselves working until dark. Meanwhile, in Havendish Stream, the entire water fairy guild was crammed in front of the babbling brook. One of them was Silvermist, a pretty fairy with long dark hair. She was currently the one who was listening to it.

The brook was a small creek which had the ability to spread rumors in Pixie Hollow, and the water fairies loved to listen in. Silvermist was especially notable for being the fairy who had the greatest pleasure in hearing and spreading rumors.

"Give it a rest, will you, Silvermist?", said another dark-haired water fairy with differently colored eyes, one blue and one green. "You've been listening in for about an hour, and there's no news other than the fact that Qana is creating the Fall Scepter! How much longer do we have to sit around and wait for you?"

"Leave her alone, Zazie!", barked Cera, Silvermist's friend. "This is her favorite pasttime besides collecting dewdrops."

"And besides, rumors reach this brook pretty quickly!", said a water sparrowman named Drip. "You never know when a new one will pop up."

"At least collecting dewdrops is productive.", Zazie deadpanned.

"Oh, don't listen to her, Sil!", said Drip. "She's just upset because she's bored. If you don't want to be here, why don't you go see your friend?"

"I think I will.", Zazie said, then flew away.

Cera watched her leave and shook her head. At that moment, Silvermist gasped.

"Sil, what's wrong?", Drip asked.

Silvermist turned to the other water fairies. Her eyes and mouth were open so wide that she looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Oh, this sounds juicy!", Drip commented.

Cera frowned. "That doesn't look like a 'juicy' kind of expression. What's up, Sil?"

"The babbling brook's told me something.", Silvermist said. "I... I've got very bad news. We're in for one rough ride."

Cera frowned at Silvermist.

"What?", Cera asked, sounding annoyed. "Let me hear that! What news could possibly be _that_ bad?"

The water fairy flew toward the brook, motioning for Silvermist to move, and she did. Cera listened carefully, appearing very concentrated, as she stared at the calm, flowing water for about three minutes. Some of the other water fairies approached slowly, hoping to hear what was happening as well. Cera rose quickly, as if startled from behind. A look of horror suddenly appeared on her face.

"What is it, raindrop?", asked Silvermist.

"I...", Cera stuttered. "I-I don't believe it."

It was Silvermist's turn to frown.

"What's wrong with _you_?", she asked. "Do you believe me now?"

Cera nodded slowly. "That definitely is bad news."

Silvermist hovered in the air.

"Someone must tell Queen Clarion about this!", she said.

The worried water fairy flew as fast as she could to the pixie dust tree. She looked back at the babbling brook as she did so, still stunned by what it had just told her. As a result, she decided to fly a little bit faster...


	10. The Babbling Brook's Prediction

---  
Author's Note  
---

Well, I've officially tested your patience... :P

It's just that it's midterm now and homework is piling up. Plus, I'm hanging out on deviantART now and sometimes forget to come here. But true to my promise, I'm continuing this fic. :)

---  
Chapter IX - The Babbling Brook's Prediction  
---

Inside the queen's chamber, the Minister of Autumn saluted to the queen. The queen returned his salute as she watched him hover toward the exit.

Queen Clarion giggled. "Congratulations, Minister, on another spectacular autumn."

The Minister of Autumn turned her way and smiled. "My deepest thanks, your Highness."

"Those fairies, thanks to your leadership and wisdom, are growing stronger and more skilled every year. I am proud of both you and them!", the queen continued. "When I appointed you Minister of Autumn, it was for a reason, old friend."

The Minister of Autumn and Queen Clarion stared at each other for a while. The Minister of Autumn looked at the queen's crown. These two fairies had a history.

Once upon a time, the Minister had come extremely close to wearing the crown himself. The Minister of Autumn, along with Queen Clarion, was considered for the throne. It is unknown how Queen Clarion earned her station, however what was known was that out of both sympathy and respect, she had then given the Minister of Autumn his title almost immediately after she was crowned.

The Minister smiled a final time and casually left the chamber. Queen Clarion watched him leave then turned to the Hall of Scepters, the expression on her face brightening.

"I had doubts when he announced which guild he would rely on.", she thought to herself. "But after discovering which of the snowflake fairies would be chosen, those doubts drifted away."

Meanwhile, Silvermist continued her flight toward the pixie dust tree, flying more frantically than she had ever flown before. When she arrived near the pixie dust well, she darted past Viola. Her hair was blown backward from the wind.

"Hey!", the summoning fairy screamed as Silvermist flew by her. "Watch where you're going, will you?"

"So sorry, sprinkles, but I'm in a hurry!", Silvermist called back to her.

Viola looked at her with an angry look on her face, then turned her back and flew away.

"Clumsy, irritating fool!", she complained under her breath as she flew out of sight.

Silvermist flew for a few minuted before she spotted the entrance to the queen's chamber and entered. Startled, Queen Clarion turned in her direction. She stared at Silvermist's face, which had a frightful expression on it.

"Silvermist.", the queen cried out in shock. "You look ghastly, dear. What has happened?"

Silvermist took a moment to catch her breath. Queen Clarion continued to look in her direction. Silvermist appeared pale and sweaty, contrary to her usual calm composure. Queen Clarion sensed that something was wrong due to this change of character.

"Please, your highness, excuse my intrusion", Silvermist gasped, "but I've just learned something from the babbling brook, and you need to hear this now!"

Queen Clarion's heart began to beat wildly. If a fairy who was usually as calm as Silvermist was this worried, it didn't mean just bad news. It meant _incredibly_ bad news.

"Please, Silvermist.", Queen Clarion continued. "Tell me what has you so troubled!"

"The brook told me", Silvermist explained, "that there's something gargantuan headed our way."

Queen Clarion's eyes widened in shock and she put her hands to her mouth.

"What exactly did the brook warn you about?", the queen asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, your Highness.", replied the still stunned water fairy. "It mentions an unknown lifeform of somekind, but I don't see what the threat could be. The only way to get here is by sea, and only fish roam there. That's all I know."

Queen Clarion looked at Silvermist, puzzled. Truth be told, she did not know what to say or think.

"The brook didn't know much about whatever's headed here.", Silvermist finished. "But I thought it wise to inform you anyway."

Queen Clarion paused for a moment to think.

"What do you think it could be?", she then asked.

"I don't know. I just smell trouble.", answered Silvermist. "The other water fairies say an animal, but if that's what it was, I'm sure the scouts would've noticed it by now."

"Did it specify if whatever this is was hostile?", the queen asked.

"No, your Highness.", Silvermist replied. "But I have a feeling it might be, otherwise the brook wouldn't have said anything."

"Regardless, thank you for informing me of this development!", said Queen Clarion. "I will summon Baden immediately and have him tell the other scouts to report to the site of the preparations."

Silvermist bowed to the queen and hastily flew out of the queen's chamber. Queen Clarion called Viola's name one more time. Outside, the summoning fairy heard her name, but threw one last angry glance at Silvermist before reporting to her queen. On her end, Silvermist did not look back at Viola. She just wanted to go back home.

Meanwhile, back in Winter Woods, the scepter, being created by Qana and Chill, was nearing completion. Qana slowly paced around it to admire it. Her lips formed a small smile and she sighed contently.

She had made it around four and a half inches tall, the same as any scepter that was built in the past, which barely reached Qana's chest. Its shape was very simple: straight but slightly jagged, and a small handle to grab it by in the middle. Qana had done this as a precaution since the scepter's body might otherwise be too slippery hold.

The most difficult part, however, had been carving the spot where the moonstone would be laid. It had been decorated with a snowflake design that would hold it in place. Both fairies were awed by its clear, shiny color of light blue, almost translucent white. Qana had enjoyed creating this scepter. While it wasn't the same as making snowflakes, she had decided to make it out of ice so that she could get the same enjoyment she had when crafting snowflakes.

Qana was the first to speak.

"I love it.", she said. "And the best thing about it is that ice isn't heavy, so I won't have problems lifting it."

Chill continued studying it. She had a look of slight worry in her eyes.

"But what if it melts?", she asked. "No matter how sturdy we know this ice to be, it's still ice. It's warmer in Harvest Promenade than it is here. I'm scared it'll melt after all this work..."

"It won't.", Qana answered. "It's cool enough for it in Harvest Promenade. And the Minister of Autumn said that he can keep it frozen with pixie dust."

"Well, Qana, it sure is beautiful!", Chill complemented.

Qana nodded, then reached for something on her table. Grabbing it carefully, she slowly lifted it and uncovered it.

"The moonstone.", she said at last. "All I have to do is put it on there and it'll be finished."

Chill hovered toward Qana and looked at the moonstone, her white eyes almost as sparkly as the stone itself.

"Careful!", Qana warned.

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!", Chill said. "Almost like a big, fragile block of ice."

Qana smiled. "You're so right. Now, would you hold this for me for a second?"

Chill nodded as Qana handed her the moonstone.

"And remember, be extremely careful.", Qana explained. "These things are hard to come by; apparently they had to use a lot of magic to make another one after the one Tinker Bell broke."

Chill's hands covered instinctively covered the moonstone. She almost never took her eyes off of it. She slowly removed one hand and stared at the beautiful stone.

Its blue hue fascinated her. She had heard the legend of the Fall Scepter and seen them being used in the past, but she had never seen the moonstone with her own eyes. She still had trouble believing that she held the legendary stone.

Chill sighed "It's almost a shame that we don't get to keep this thing. I want one so badly."

Qana was walking toward the table, scepter in hand, when she stopped to look at her friend. She smirked and shook her head.

"You're obsessed with precious stones, you know that?", she teased.

Chill couldn't help but shrug and smile.

"Yeah, so I am.", she admitted. "Especially this one. I like its color."

Qana walked toward the tea table and carefully set the ice-sculpted scepter lying down onto it. Qana stared at it again for a moment before turning to Chill and the moonstone.

Chill sighed. "If Tinker Bell hadn't used the Mirror of Incanta's last wish, I'd go look for it and ask for one of these."

Qana smiled sympathetically.

"The Mirror of Incanta's just a myth, Chill.", she replied. "The fairy who supposedly made it is a mere story herself. The Mirror is just a standard-issue mirror. Nothing special."

Chill looked up from the moonstone and stared at Qana.

"Then how do you explain the fact that when she looked at the mirror and unintentionally wished for Terence to be beside her", Chill asked, "he suddenly magically appeared? You can't tell me that _that's_ a myth."

"Oh, Chill. You didn't hear?", Qana replied. "Terence arriving there at that precise moment was all a coincidence. After Tink left, he had already left Pixie Hollow himself to look for her."

Chill thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Why would Lyria have told us about it if it wasn't real?", she asked.

"Lyria is a story-teller.", Qana answered. "She's also a little dramatic. She tends to invent things on a whim to make her stories interesting. That's part of her talent. She can imagine."

"It's not like we would know.", Chill added. "we weren't there with her."

Qana walked back toward Chill and looked at the gem.

"You know", she thought out loud, "come to think of it, that _is_ a beautiful color. It blends in almost perfectly with the scepter itself."

"Here", Chill said, handing back the stone to Qana. "I want to see you put it in!"

Qana giggled. "Oh, all right! If that'll make you happy!"

Qana carefully took the stone back and slowly made her way back to her table. She grabbed the scepter by its handle and raised the snowflake design to her eyes, then slowly raised the moonstone and slid it in. Qana slowly tipped her scepter, making sure to keep her hand near the moonstone to prevent it from crashing to the ground. To her surprise, the stone did not budge in the slightest.

"You did it, Qana!", Chill cheered. "It's not sliding out! The snowflake was a great idea!"

"I'm surprised!", Qana replied. "I thought I'd have trouble getting it in, and that once it _was_ in, it would be too loose."

The two friends admired the completed product when someone knocked on the door. Qana turned to the door.

"Yes, who is it?", she asked.

"It's me, Qana.", replied a familiar voice.

"Oh, Minister.", Qana added. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal a radiant and smiling Minister of Winter. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Good morrow to you, girls!", she saluted. "I have stopped by to see how you were doing."

Her eyes then stopped on the scepter.

She gasped. "By the Second Star! I see you have completed it!"

Qana nodded. "And early as well. Would you like to examine it?"

"Of course, I would.", replied the Minister. "May I?"

Qana lowered her scepter, hovered toward the Minister and handed it to her. The Minister's eyes lit up in a rare display of excitement. The Minister of Winter was usually very humble and refined, much like the Minister of Autumn.

"Why, Qana dear, it's lovely!", the Minister exclaimed, "The dimensions are perfect and I simply adore the snowflake at the top, in addition to this handle that makes it easier to hold. I knew I had made the right decision when I recommended you."

Qana smiled proudly. The Minister of Winter next turned to Chill.

"You know, you were my second choice.", the Minister told her. "Your willingness to help a friend is admirable, Chill."

"Thank you, Minister.", Chill chimed in.

"The amazing part is that I didn't even ask her.", Qana explained. "She just landed behind me and insisted!"

"Now all that is left is to await the Autumn Revelry!", the Minister continued. "I assure you, the Minister of Autumn will be proud."

Qana and Chill looked at each other and smiled proudly. The two fairies then jumped on each other and hugged.

"Thanks so much for your help!", said Qana.

"Hey, anytime you need me, I'll be here.", Chill replied. "You know what to do."

The Minister of Winter simply settled for watching the two friends. She then turned to the scepter.

"When the queen said that Qana was destined for great things", she thought. "I did not doubt her for a second. She would make a fine Minister in my place..."

She turned back to the friends and smiled.

"This is great news!", she announced. "I will immediately go inform the queen and the Minister of Autumn that the Autumn Revelry is also fully prepared for."

The Minister of Winter flew out of Qana's home, waved to her two prodigies, and darted in the direction of the pixie dust tree.

Further away, near the edge of Pixie Hollow, Wolf was in the air, patrolling the area. That day, he had been tasked with looking out for any incoming hawks or dangerous sea animals. Unfortunately, he wasn't very happy with this task and was zipping back and forth.

"I can't believe this!", he muttered to himself. "I should be watching the queen's blessing of autumn with Baden and the others."

He looked to the sky ahead.

"I know I'm new here", he continued, "but why do I have to be here right now?"

All of a sudden, Wolf stopped zipping around when he caught something in the corner of his eye. He turned to his right and saw something approaching at high speed. He squinted and looked ahead, putting his hands above his eyes to shield them from the sun.

"What is that?", he asked quietly.

Wolf stayed still, surveying a ripple in the water that was coming toward Pixie Hollow. It gradually grew into a wave.

Wolf gasped. "Whoa! I'd better not lose sight of that! Now I'm starting to be glad I was told to stay here."

Not very far from Wolf's location, in Beach Cove, Silvermist and Cera were collecting sea water for a special new creation by a baking fairy who was almost as old as the Queen.

Cera turned to Silvermist. "So, did you tell the queen about this... _whatever_ that the brook talked about?"

"I did.", Silvermist replied. "She said she's going to make sure that all of the scouts available will be in Harvest Promenade to protect the fairies there."

Cera dropped the dewdrop she had in her hand and quickly turned to Silvermist. "Just Harvest Promenade? What about the rest of Pixie Hollow? Unless this thing hates autumn and is coming here to stop it, we've got a problem."

"Well, apparently a whole lot of fairies will be watching as we deliver autumn.", Silvermist replied. "They finished their preparations early and everyone wants to see Qana's scepter. According to the Minister of Winter, she and Chill made this one incredibly beautiful."

"Beautiful, maybe, but will it be as effective as the one Tink made?", Cera asked.

Silvermist remembered the Fall Scepter that Tinker Bell and Terence had made together. After they had accidentally broken the moonstone, they had unwittingly produced a legendary Fall Scepter. It was being every second year, to make sure there was always a surplus of blue dust. But the Minister of Autumn loved the Fall Scepter tradition, so he still insisted that more be made.

"Only time will tell.", Silvermist replied. "I'm curious to see how an ice scepter will work."

Cera shrugged and returned to collect more water. Suddenly, a sound of rushing water distracted her.

"That's funny!", she said to Silvermist, "I don't recall there being a current here in Beach Cove!"

Silvermist looked ahead and saw a massive wave approaching.

"That's no current, Cera!", Silvermist said, alarmed. "Look!"

"A wave?", Cera asked, stunned. "But how can that be?"

The wave approached the shore at an alarming speed.

"What the...?", Silvermist couldn't believe her eyes.

"By the Second Star!", Cera gasped. "It's getting bigger! What is that?"

"I don't know, but we need to fly out of here now!", Silvermist ordered. "Come on!"

Silvermist grabbed the stunned fairy by the arm and quickly raced to fly her to safety. The giant wave kept gaining on them. All hope seemed lost for the two water fairies.


	11. The Invasion

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Author's Note  
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Well, it's finally here! After a very long cliffhanger, out pops the creature you've all been waiting for! :D Enjoy!

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Chapter X - The Invasion  
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Silvermist made it out of there at the last second and placed Cera at a safe distance from the beach. She panted as she watched the wave enlarge and reveal what appeared to be a plated bone.

"What in Never Land is that?", Cera asked.

"I don't know. But stay here and try not to move.", Silvermist replied.

She heard a low and bone-chilling sound that sounded almost like a moaning tiger. Silvermist's eyes stayed open in both shock and bewilderment. The wave stopped moving forward and finally broke as a colossal monster emerged from the water. Silvermist only caught a few quick glimpses of orange eyes plus a gaping maw that was so big that it could have been confused with the opening of a cave.

"Whoa...", was all Silvermist could say as the monster stood up.

A loud and shrieking roar escaped from the creature's mouth as it stepped out of the water with feet almost as tall as the pixie dust tree's trunk. The powerful wind from the roar blew Silvermist's hair backward with great strength and she struggled to keep herself and her friend from being sent flying. A loud shriek of terror escaped Cera's throat.

"That must be your giant monster, Sil!", she cried. "The brook never lies!"

The creature did not notice them. The fairies were as small to it than ants were to a human. Silvermist could not move, as she was so aghast at the size of the creature that was stepping over her and was headed further onto the island. The beast towered far above them, it appeared taller than even the Pixie Dust Tree. When she believed that the monster was far enough away from them and that it was safe, Silvermist sighed and let herself fall on the groud, where she caught her breath. Cera was still shaking.

"Did you see that?", the words barely left her mouth. "I can't get over the size of that thing..."

"The brook was right...", Silvermist said. "That _had _to be what it warned us about."

The palm trees that lined Beach Cove were no match for the titan, who treaded through them as if they were mere grass. A loud crash could be heard as the creature's gargantuan left foot landed in Summer Glade, shaking leaves off of trees and completely crushing one. Two light fairies who were flying there panicked and left as quickly as their wings would let them. One screamed for the scouts. The creature growled as it took another step forward, which quickly propelled it into Midsummer Hills. Nearby, Clank, Bobble and Tink were making deliveries with their animal friend, Cheese the mouse. Bobble stopped their wagon when he felt one of the monster's footsteps and began to look around to see where the tremor could have come from. Clank's eyes widened as he did the same. Cheese was visibly quivering like a child in the cold.

"What in the world was that noise?", asked Tink.

"I don't know, Tink. But I didn't like the sound of it!", Bobble answered.

"It's the Thistles!", Clank gasped. "What else could it be?"

"I don't know, Clank, but it can't be the Thistles!", Bobble explained. "That shake was too strong, and besides, we're nowhere near Needlepoint Meadow. The queen made sure that Vidia returned them there safely. We'd better head back and find another way."

However, they would not get the time to do so. The giant creature's right foot stopped mere inches away from their wagon with a deafening thud, sending the tinkers, Cheese and the wagon flying a short distance forward. The wagon's wheels broke off as it crashed back onto the ground. Clank screamed when he saw what had caused their short flight.

"What in the...?", Tink found herself barely whispering.

The creature appeared to be searching for something. Tink saw its eyes going from one place to another. Its eyes closed in on her. Two cat-like pupils suddenly changed shape as the creature stared at Tink for a second or two. Tink did not move, being scared to startle the monster into acting harshly, however she stared back at the colossal monstrosity that stood before her.

Its size was more imposing than that of any creature she had ever seen. Tink had once gotten up close and personal with a hawk. However, that hawk almost looked friendly next to this monster. Its giant foot looked like a dinosaur's, except with five toes, complete with huge claws at their tips. The monster's hands were not much different, and plated bones emerged everywhere, including the huge bone on the back that Cera and Silvermist had seen when the creature first exited the water. A similar protrusion was visible on the monster's chest. From the creature's scaly, rust-colored body and limbs bulged enormous muscles. Its back was hunched forward, as if it had trouble supporting the weight of its head and huge, broad shoulders. Its face was hideous and distorted, its jaws held many razor-sharp teeth, and this face also housed a dog-like nose as well as those eyes. Those haunting eyes that kept scanning Tink. The growls it uttered sent chills down her spine.

"Stop staring at me like that, _please_. Go away.", Tink pleaded in her head.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Tink, the monster's pupils returned to normal and it growled loudly, almost sounding disappointed, then continued its path. It completely disregarded her. This time, she noticed that it was headed toward Fall Forest, the home of the leaf fairies, while preparations for Autumn were almost ready right near it in Harvest Promenade. Tink still stood frozen in place as the sound of the monster's thundering footsteps grew more distant. Meanwhile, another fairy was flying around, not at all aware of the creature's presence. Ironically, it was none other than Fawn. She stopped when she saw the enormous footprint and the tinkers' wagon. She landed next to Cheese the mouse to calm him down, as she had done once before. Then she turned her attention to Tink, who was helping Bobble repair the wagon.

"Tink, what happened to you guys?", Fawn asked.

"Huge... foot...", Clank was visibly shaking. "Taller than trees..."

"What are you talking about?", Fawn asked.

"He's right!", Bobble turned and explained. "There was a large beast of somekind. It just barely missed trampling us. I've never seen anything like it!"

"That footprint...", Fawn said, flying to the footprint and barely believing what she saw. "There's no animal I know about that makes prints like that. What's going on here?"

"I don't know.", said Tink "But what I do know is that it's going right into Fall Forest."

"No!", Clank said. "The Autumn preparations!"

"The Autumn fairies!", cried Fawn. "Someone has to warn them! They don't know what's coming their way!"

As Fawn flew toward Harvest Promenade, Clank inspected the damage caused.

"Fairy Mary's never going to believe what just happened...", he whispered in Bobble's ear.

"Aye, Clank.", Bobble whispered back. "It would be best not to tell her."

Meanwhile, Queen Clarion and the Minister of Autumn stood before the Autumn fairies in Harvest Promenade.

"I'd like to congratulate and thank you all for your months of flawless and dedicated work.", the Minister said. "This Autumn will be the most beautiful yet."

"I'm happy to know that you are using your talents so wonderfully!", Queen Clarion added. "We are so lucky to have such talented fairies in Pixie Hollow."

"Queen Clarion!", continued the Minister. "I would like to point out that an certain leaf fairy stood out from the other fairies and made all of this possible. Magnolia, come here, please."

A dark-tanned fairy wearing a rust-colored leaf dress flew to where the Minister was standing. She smiled and bowed to the Queen.

"So, you are the one who's responsible for making this Autumn so spectacular?", asked the Queen."

"That is correct, my Queen!", replied the Minister of Autumn.

"As thanks for your splendid work, you will assist the Minister in overseeing the delivery of the season on the mainland!", Queen Clarion declared. "You have earned it, little one!"

"Oh, thank you!", Magnolia blushed. "It'll be an honor!"

"Wonderful!", the Minister smiled warmly.

Meanwhile, a team of ten scout fairies and sparrowmen, led by Baden, were stationed near the site of the preparations. Their job was to prevent any disturbances from affecting the changing of the seasons and to accompany the autumn fairies as they left for the mainland to help keep them safe. However, little did they know that the disturbance that was currently headed their way would prove to be a challenge. The ground begun to shake lightly, barely noticeable, until...

"That's weird!", shouted a leaf fairy "The berry paint's rippling!"

The Minister of Autumn flew toward the fairy to investigate. He landed beside the bucket and frowned when he saw the paint rippling himself.

"That _is_ curious.", he said, looking at the paint. "Perhaps something fell inside there. Care to let me see?"

The painting fairy moved out of the Minister's way as he began to inspect the paint. He looked on, perplexed, as he saw another ripple.

"Hey, the ground's shaking!", cried a scout fairy.

The Minister turned to the scouts with a curious look on his face, when he felt it. Indeed, the ground shook in a steady rhythm. The shakes were very slowly growing in intensity.

"What's going on?", asked a panicking animal fairy.

"It's an earthquake!", shouted a garden fairy.

"Hello, down there!", a voice shouted.

It was Fawn. She landed near the Queen, Magnolia and the Minister of Autumn.

"Young one, wherever have you been?", asked the Minister.

"You're not gonna like this!", Fawn was shaking. "We've got a problem! The tinkers just spotted an animal headed your way. It leaves footprints about the size of Vidia's ego! It's probably that so-called beast Sil heard of from the babbling brook!"

The Minister seemed none too pleased. "Indeed, there isn't much to like! Now, how about getting in line? Inventing such creatures is the job of the story-teller fairies! What we're experiencing is merely an earthquake. It happens once in a while!"

The tremors grew even stronger, and now, loud "thuds" were being heard. A sack of pixie dust fell over and spilled on the ground.

"That's no earthquake! Those sound like giant footsteps!", Baden called out.

"It's the Sprinting Thistles!", a fairy screamed in panic. "They broke out again!"

"It isn't the Thistles!", cried a scout sparrowman. "It's _much_ bigger!"

"A troll?", asked another fairy.

"No, bigger than that, too." the scout replied.

"What could it be...", Magnolia began to ask.

Finally, a loud, shrieking roar echoed throughout Harvest Promenade. A stunned painting fairy dropped her paintbrush as she fell flat on her backside. Fairies began to quickly look around, looking positively afraid, while others prepared to leave. The sound of crunching leaves and tree branches breaking added itself to the frightening cacophony. The tremors were now becoming violent.

"I definitely don't like the sound of this.", Baden said to himself. "Not at all."

"What do we do?", asked a garden fairy.

"Whatever you do, don't make sudden movements.", Baden stated. "You might startle it."

At last, the giant monster appeared, revealing only its chest, broad shoulders and head, and uttering another shrieking roar. In response, the fairies covered their ears and stared at the creature, their mouths hung open. Strangely, it still seemed to search for something. Its eyes stopped on the autumn fairies and it stared at them for a moment as it had Tink.

"_That's it_!", Fawn screamed. "_Sil's monster_!"

"It seems the water fairies were right after all!", the Minister of Autumn stated calmly. But he was panicking inside.

"AAAAUGHH!", cried a light fairy. "It's _huge_!"

"And _ugly_!", gasped a painting fairy.

"It makes such an _awful_ sound, too!", cried another leaf fairy.

"By the Second Star!", Queen Clarion gasped. "Everyone, fly out of here, for goodness' sake. _Fly_!"

The fairies panicked and flew every which way, and _many_ of them screamed as they did so. Baden also got a strong impulse to do so when he looked the monster right in the eyes.

"What... How...?", Baden stuttered. "I may faint..."

The monster proceeded forward. Upon staring at its face, Rosetta fainted out of fear. Baden hurried toward her, grabbed her limp body and carried her away just in time, barely missing being crushed, while the Minister of Autumn and Queen Clarion flew away with Magnolia, who was too frightened to move on her own, behind the Minister's dais. The creature's eyes darted left and right while it crossed the Promenade, accidentally trampling a scout fairy while it did so. Luckily, everyone else was saved, but the berry paint buckets were crushed. Finally, the creature stomped out of Harvest Promenade and continued into the distance, unleashing a final deafening roar. Queen Clarion, Magnolia and the Minister of Autumn waited until the monster was well out of sight before stepping out from behind the dais. While Magnolia trembled and kept her eyes wide open, still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened, Queen Clarion and the Minister looked around observing the damage caused.

"It's exactly like when the Thistles destroyed the Spring preparations.", the Minister gasped.

"Except that this was not the Thistles! It was far worse!", Queen Clarion's eyes widened as she seemed to gasp as well. "The Thistles appear insignificant next to this creature."

Queen Clarion shook her head, looking at the footprint which carried the dead scout fairy. The Minister of Autumn turned that way as well.

"The poor dear tried to do her job, and was dealt with so easily...", he said, holding back a tear.

"It's the first time in many years that we've lost a scout directly to a threat.", Queen Clarion said glumly. "Something I wished I'd never see again."

"What exactly was that thing, then?", Magnolia asked, still shaking.

"I don't know", replied the Minister of Autumn, "however, we must take action. It's very dangerous."

"I've never seen anything like it!", Baden said, slightly out of breath. "And I've seen lots of huge animals!"

"It's like it was looking for something.", Magnolia said. "Didn't you see its eyes?"

"Yeah, I noticed that too!", Baden looked at Rosetta, then to the Queen. "I managed to get a look at it while I carried Ro here. Those eyes were really creepy."

"We need to find out what it is searching for.", Queen Clarion decided "Quickly. And then hopefully we can prevent other casualties."

Queen Clarion turned to Rosetta, who looked positively pale in contrast to her usual rosy cheeks.

"In the meantime", she finished, "I'll take her back to my chamber and try to wake her up."

Baden volunteered to help, which the queen nodded to say she accepted. The two fairies picked up Rosetta's limp body and carried her to the queen's council chamber. When they arrived there, they set her down on the ground, on her back. Queen Clarion turned to Baden.

"Please, Baden.", she urged, "I would like to be alone with her."

"Understood, your Highness.", Baden saluted, then flew away.

Queen Clarion couldn't help but feel proud as she watched him leave. No scout carried out his duty like he did. Looking back at Rosetta, she grabbed her own personal sack of pixie dust and sprinkled a tiny bit of pixie dust on Rosetta's face, and finally watched as color returned to her cheeks and her eyes slowly opened. She lay there for a moment, still appearing stunned, then exhaled slowly. She rubbed her eyes and moaned before finally sitting up.

"What happened?", she struggled to speak the words as she looked around. "Where am I?"

"You're in the council chamber in the pixie dust tree, Rosetta. You're safe now.", Queen Clarion explained. "You fainted when that giant creature appeared in Harvest Promenade, dear. Baden carried you to safety, then I took you here to awaken you."

Rosetta sighed with relief. She turned to Queen Clarion.

"That quite frankly must've been the ugliest thing I've ever laid eyes on.", the red-haired garden fairy trembled. "I shake just thinking about it. I'm not a huge fan of those kinds of animals. What was it, anyway?"

"I don't know, dear.", the queen replied calmly, trying not to sound panicked. But she was. "I really don't know."

Queen Clarion noticed the still worried look on Rosetta's face.

"Do you wish to stay here until the scout fairies can deal with this problem?", Queen Clarion asked sweetly. "Perhaps a cup of tea, as well?"

"Of course. Please.", Rosetta laid herself back down and began to relax.

Meanwhile, Baden flew toward the scout guild's meeting place, when he ran into Wolf, who was headed toward the pixie dust tree. His face lit up when he saw Baden.

"Baden!", he called. "I heard about what happened! You guys okay?"

"Yeah, but we lost one of our girls today!", Baden lowered his head. For the first time in many years, a tear appeared on his face. He soon wiped it off brought his head back up, however. "Listen, Wolf, I need your help. I've got an idea to take this monster down! Get the other scouts and meet me at our hideout!"

"Gotcha!", Wolf replied.

Both sparrowmen flew as fast as they could. Baden had a plan to deal with this monster. He would tell Queen Clarion about it later. Right now, he had to get his fellow scouts on his side and make them aware of the situation.


End file.
